“It will be a good indicator of what’s happening on the ground and whether the Federal Reserve needs to go harder with its monetary tightening,” said Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management.
“Markets are in a period of time wondering how deep the recession will be or when will the central banks stop hiking interest rates. The markets want to know which one occurs first – and generally the central banks begin to stop when the recession kicks in,” Solly said.
Investors will get a keener indication when the latest consumer price index and the Federal Reserve interest rates move are known later next week.
The US 10 Year Treasury Note yield fell below 3.5 per cent, and the NZ dollar strengthened to US64.03c against the American greenback. The S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.55 per cent to 7215 points at 5.45pm NZ time.
At home, there was further profit-taking in Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, falling 56c or 2.42 per cent to $22.58; and Mainfreight down 58c to $68.97.
Retirement village operators Ryman Healthcare went ex-dividend and was down 20c or 3.03 per cent to $6.40; Summerset shed 16c to $9.40; and Oceania Healthcare decreased 3c or 3.61 per cent to 80c.
Contact Energy declined 14c or 1.79 per cent to $7.70, and Vector was down 10c or 2.4 per cent to $4.06.
Solly said the market was waiting with bated breath and getting impatient over the prospect that Vector is selling its metering business. A deal was supposed to be done before Christmas.
Scales Corp, down 4c to $4.63, has re-affirmed its full-year net profit guidance of $23.5m-$28.5m, though it’s unlikely this will be at the top of the range because of the unprecedented delay in finalising the apple sales season.
Scales is paying an interim dividend of 6c a share on January 16 and the annual payments will be split into three – the second with the year-end results and the third in early July as usual.
Solly said the labour shortage had constrained Scales’ processing and it’s a reminder of how hard it is getting people to do the work. Scale is a good business and built its pet food division to offset any challenges.
Cinema management software firm Vista Group, up 1c to $1.52, has appointed global technology executive Stuart Dickinson as the new chief executive, replacing Kimbal Riley who is retiring. Dickinson was New Zealand Country Manager of New York Stock Exchange-listed DXC Technology.
Skellerup Holdings was down 11c or 2.03 per cent to $5.31; Freightways decreased 10c to $9.80; Briscoe Group declined 12c or 2.46 per cent to $4.75; and Sanford shed 7c to $4.30.
Seeka declined 7c or 2.17 per cent to $3.15; Restaurant Brands shed 10c to $6.40; NZ King Salmon Investments fell 2.5c or 10 per cent to 22.5c; and Savor was down 1.5c or 4.11 per cent to 35c.
Vulcan Steel, which is replacing Eroad in the NZX top 50, was down 10c to $9.10. Eroad, which has fallen from a high of $5.48, was up 4c or 3.51 per cent to $1.18.
Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund increased 6c or 1.91 per cent to $3.20 following the dairy cooperative’s strong first quarter performance, and a2 Milk was up 18c or 2.64 per cent to a new two-year high of $7.
Fletcher Building improved 7c to $5.02; Property for Industry increased 4c to $2.38; Argosy gained 3c or 2.56 per cent to $1.20; Smartpay Holdings collected 4c or 3.88 per cent to $1.07; Pacific Edge was up 1.56c or 3.3 per cent to 47c; and KMD Brands added 2c or 1.9 per cent to $1.07.
Blackpearl Group completed its first eventful week as a listed company with another 2.5c or 6.41 per cent fall to 36.5c, after listing at $1.25.
