“The cost of living issue will be an interesting backdrop for the Budget, with still a lot of pressure on food prices. But on a monthly basis it does look like food prices are starting to ease,” Smith said.
Annual food prices increased 12.5 per cent for the year to April compared with 12.1 per cent in March, and was the largest rise since September 1987 including the introduction of GST in 1986.
Fruit and vegetable prices were the biggest driver, up 22.5 per cent, and grocery items increased 14 per cent compared with April last year.
The latest inflation number in the United States was lower than expected with the April consumer price index rising 4.9 per cent from a year ago, less than economists’ prediction of a 5 per cent gain.
Investors flocked to the technology stocks on signs that US inflation is easing. It is well under the peak of 9 per cent last June.
The Nasdaq Composite increased 1.04 per cent to 12,306.44 points and has gained 17.58 per cent so far this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.22 per cent to 33,487.87 points, and S&P 500 was up 0.24 per cent to 4129.2.
At home, Ebos Group was down 89c or 1.97 per cent to $44.40; Mainfreight shed $1.89 or 2.64 per cent to $69.60; Fletcher Building declined 7c to $4.68; Fisher and Paykel Healthcare decreased 34c to $26.35; Summerset Group gave up 9c to $8.15; and Skellerup Holdings was down 10c or 2.06 per cent to $4.754.
Leading energy stocks Meridian and Mercury were both down 4.5c to $5.47 and $6.55 respectively, and Genesis declined 5c or 1.81 per cent to $2.72.
Port of Tauranga shed 7c to $6.48; Serko was down 7c or 3.08 per cent to $2.20; a2 Milk declined 5c to $5.63; and Restaurant Brands decreased 13c or 1.7 per cent to $7.50.
Retailers Hallenstein Glasson fell 36c or 5.26 per cent to $6.49, and Briscoe Group was up 5c to $4.45.
KMD Brands, down 2c or 1.82 per cent to $1.08, has appointed Megan Welch as chief executive of the Kathmandu business. Welch was senior vice president and general manager Asia for retailer Crocs.
Other decliners were Steel & Tube down 2c or 1.9 per cent to $1.03; Rakon decreasing 3c or 2.78 per cent to $1.05; PaySauce falling 3c or 10.34 per cent to 26c; and Gentrack shedding 14c or 4 per cent to $3.36.
Tourism Holdings declined 6c to $3.87; Move Logistics was down 4c or 4.44 per cent to 86c; and Embark Education decreased 2c or 3.17 per cent to 61c.
Seeka increased 8c or 3.02 per cent to $2.73; Tower rebounded 1.5c or 2.65 per cent to 58c; MHM Automation was up 2c or 2.13 per cent to 9c; Marsden Maritime Holdings added 8c to $5.13; Accordant Group gained 3c or 1.94 per cent to $1.58; and NZ King Salmon Investments improved 1c or 5 per cent to 21c.
New Zealand-bred stocks listed on the United States Nasdaq Composite index had contrasting days after reporting their latest financial results.
Allbirds, which makes shoes and clothing out of merino wool, was down 8.09 per cent to US$1.25 (NZ$1.96) after reporting a 13.4 per cent in revenue to US$54.4m and a net loss of $35.2m for the three months ending March.
Rocket Lab was up 4.12 per cent to US$4.12 (NZ$6.46) after reporting quarterly revenue of US$54.9m, up 35 per cent, with forecast revenue of $60-$63m for the three months to June.
Rocket Lab nearly doubled its quarterly net loss to US$45.6m as it spends millions developing its bigger Neutron rocket for launch in the United States next year.
NZ RegCo, the compliance arm of the NZ stock exchange, and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) have signed a memorandum of understanding for co-operating and monitoring the New Zealand capital markets.
Priorities under the arrangements include issuers’ continuous disclosure obligations, and oversight and enforcement of the prohibitions on insider trading and market manipulation.
