He said Amazon and McDonald’s were reporting overnight and Apple followed later in the week.
Tesla rose 15.31 per cent to US$194.05 ($326) after clearing a key hurdle for full self-driving technology in China.
At home, the April ANZ Business Outlook survey showed business confidence fell 8 points to plus 15 and expected own activity was down 9 points to plus 14. Past own activity dropped 13 points to minus 20, with double-digit falls in every sector except construction.
ANZ said the survey showed a clear weakening in activity and profitability indicators but mixed developments regarding inflation pressures. Cost pressure was particularly persistent.
Meanwhile, 236 companies went into liquidation in March – the highest monthly total in six years. There were 489 liquidator appointments in the first three months this year, a 28 per cent increase on the previous corresponding period last year (382).
Lister said the business survey was “pretty ugly, to be honest. The headline confidence measure is the lowest seen in six to nine months. The economy is weakening and inflation is staying stubbornly high.
“It’s not good for household and workers, but it’s not terrible for the sharemarket because of its make-up where safe and steady stocks such as utilities continue to do well,” he said.
Serko rose 55c or 17.35 per cent to $3.72 after renegotiating a five-year contract with Booking.com, registering more than 600,000 businesses and increasing booked room nights by 65 per cent to 2.5 million in the past financial year.
Total income for the 12 months ending March is likely to increase 48 per cent to $71m – above the middle of the revised guidance of $67m-$74m. Serko said the total spend was at the lower end of the $86m-$90m guidance.
Lister said the revised revenue share arrangement (between Serko and Booking.com) looked good. Serko’s share price has been weak lately and that would be another reason for the big uplift.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 48c or 1.71 per cent to $28.47; Spark added 6c to $4.77 on trade worth $15.64m; a2 Milk increased 20c or 3.08 per cent to $6.69; Vulcan Steel rose 52c or 6.68 per cent to $8.30; Scales Corp improved 15c or 4.62 per cent to $3.40; and NZME gained 3c or 3.57 per cent to 87c.
In the energy sector, Meridian gained 10c to $6; Mercury increased 11c or 1.75 per cent to $6.38; and Genesis was up 4.5c or 1.97 per cent to $2.325.
In the property sector, Argosy was up 2.5c or 2.27 per cent to $1.125; and Kiwi was down 2.5c or 2.99 per cent to 81c.
Amongst the retailers, The Warehouse rose 7c or 5.19 per cent to $1.42, and Hallenstein Glasson gained 9c to $6.04.
Cancer diagnostic company Pacific Edge increased 1.1c or 13.41 per cent to 9.3c after telling the market it is presenting the results of a ground-breaking study into the clinical utility of Cxbladder testing to the American Urological Association’s annual meeting later this week.
Heartland Group, unchanged at $1.06, has completed the A$115.7m ($127m) purchase of Melbourne-based Challenger Bank, which will be renamed Heartland.
Infratil shed 19c to $10.92; Chorus eased 10c to $7.20; Ryman Healthcare fell 19c or 4.46 per cent to $4.07; Fletcher Building declined 8c or 2.06 per cent to $3.81; Mainfreight was down 50c to $68; and Napier Port eased 5c or 2.13 per cent to $2.30.
AFT Pharmaceuticals fell 13c or 4.15 per cent to $3; Rakon was down 5c or 4.76 per cent to $1; CDL Investments eased 2.5c 3.14 per cent to 77c; NZ King Salmon declined 2c or 7.55 per cent to 24.5c; and Steel & Tube was down 3c or 2.86 per cent to $1.02.
Wine exporters Delegat Group declined 20c or 2.94 per cent to $6.60, and Foley shed 3c or 3.33 per cent to 87c.
