Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said everyone is groping around about what’s noise and what’s real from Trump.
“Fisher and Paykel’s gyration reflected market sentiment and reaction to the tariff comments. The market is so sensitive, as what is said and what is done may be two different things.”
The US markets were closed for the Martin Luther King jnr public holiday, and the S&P 500 Futures were up 0.6% at one stage but then fell to 0.13% after Trump’s comment on Mexico and Canada tariffs.
One US commentator said it would be interesting to see how markets handle Trump’s unpredictability going forward, but the view currently is positive around the pro-business aspects of deregulation and lower taxes.
Investors will also know that the sharemarket did well under Trump last time around – indeed, he saw it as one of his primary yardsticks.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was having a strong day, rising 0.63% to 8400 points at 6pm NZT, with the banking stocks in demand.
Interestingly, there were as many gainers as decliners despite the NZX 50′s slight fall – the difference being Fisher and Paykel Healthcare’s decline.
Vulcan Steel climbed 53c or 6.87% to $8.25; Delegat Group was up 20c or 4.16% to $5.01; Ventia Services increased 16c or 3.96% to $4.20; and takeover target Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ gained 3c to $2.17.
Seeka, the country’s largest kiwifruit grower, increased 19c or 5.74% to $3.50 after upgrading its full-year gross profit to $27.5m-$31.5m, from $23m-$27m. The company had a loss of $21m in the 2023 financial year.
Seeka told the market that the increased earnings reflect a strong close-out to the year, through lower-than-expected overhead costs and higher-then-anticipated income in December.
Goodson said Seeka is levered to kiwifruit volumes and the sector has had a better season than the previous year.
Amongst retail stocks, KMD Brands rebounded 2c or 5% to 42c; Michael Hill was up 1c to 61c; The Warehouse added 2c or 1.98% to $1.03; and Briscoe Group eased 7c to $4.73.
Of the leading banking groups, ANZ was up 65c or 1.99% to $33.25 and Westpac added 43c to $36.05.
South Port NZ increased 2c or 2.56% to 80c; Synlait Milk was up 1c or 2.47% to 41.5c; Eroad gained 2c or 1.89% to $1.08; Rakon added 2c or 3.33% to 62c; and Pacific Edge improved 0.002c or 3.39% to 6.1c.
Turners Automotive was up 6c to $5.42; Vista Group gained 8c or 2.57% to $3.19; Green Cross Health increased 2c or 2.56% to 80c; PGG Wrightson improved 3c or 1.86% to $1.64; and Being AI added 1c or 3.39% to 30.5c.
Scott Technology, up 8c or 3.64% to $2.28, has secured its third automation project with Rio Tinto in Australia, this time automating the minerals laboratory at the West Angelas mine in Western Australia.
The semi-automated Rocklabs system features two Rio 350 Crushers and three ABM 3000 Pulverisers, designed to process up to 700 samples per day.
In the energy sector, Contact was down 14c to $9.40 and Mercury was up 5c to $6.08.
Goodson said Mercury had a solid quarterly update on generation volume and higher selling prices. There was enough there for a small earnings upgrade but what matters most is whether Mercury will move out of the MSCI World Index.
AFT Pharmaceuticals declined 5c or 1.79% to $2.74; Accordant Group was down 2c or 4.08% to 47c; and Santana Minerals decreased 2c or 3.85% to 50c.
Cooks Coffee, unchanged at 26c, reported a 26.2% increase in cafe sales to $54.3m for the nine months ending December and a 32.4% rise for the 13 weeks ending December 29.
Cooks has 87 Esquires sites in the UK and Ireland, up from 71 at the end of December 2023.
