The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.18% to 42,840.26 points; the S&P 500 was up 1.09% to 5930.85; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.03% to 19,572.6.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, believes the Magnificent Seven technology stocks will continue to dominate the United States market next year.
The artificial intelligence mega forces driving investment will push up Nvidia, Alphabet (Google), Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Tesla, which combined make up a third of the S&P 500 market capitalisation.
Following the election of US President Donald Trump, there should be less regulation and lower taxes, resulting in higher corporate earnings in a higher growth environment, said BlackRock. But it was cautious about any surge in long-term bond yields and an escalation in trade protectionism.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had risen 1.55% to 8192.4 points at 6pm NZ time, no doubt exhilarated by the A$3.4 billion (NZ$3.76b) purchase of Foxtel by the London-based sports streaming platform DAZN.
Previous owners News Corp and Telstra will take stakes of 6% and 3% respectively in DAZN, with shareholder loans to Foxtel of A$578m being repaid.
Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer with Octagon Asset Management, said the purchase implied that Sky TV “is pretty cheap and it may prompt talk about someone wanting to buy Sky”.
Sky TV, up 8c or 3% to $2.75, has a content-sharing agreement with Foxtel.
Robertshaw said the local market had a big finish on Friday and volumes and information flow are now lighter as it heads to the end of the year.
Contact, likely to join the MSCI World Index at the expense of Mercury, increased 33c or 3.76% to $9.11.
Auckland International Airport gained 17c or 2.05% to $8.47; Spark increased 5.5c or 1.94% to $2.885; Hallenstein Glasson added 10c to a new high of $8.40; and Skellerup was 13c or 2.63% to $5.08.
Property stocks Stride rose 5c or 3.97% to $1.31; Argosy was up 2.5c or 2.53% to $1.015; Precinct gained 3c or 2.46% to $1.25; and Goodman Trust added 4c or 2% to $2.04.
Mainfreight was up 80c to $72.30; Ebos Group collected 50c to $37.10; Summerset gained 17c to $12.99; Freightways picked up 28c or 2.69% to $10.68; and Scales Corp rose 17c or 4.45% to $3.99.
Leading banks had a strong bounce, with ANZ rising $1.59 or 5.3% to $31.60 and Westpac up $1.03 or 2.96% to $35.80.
T&G Global rose 5c or 3.33% to $1.55; Allied Farmers increased 4c or 5.33% to 79c; Eroad improved 3c or 3% to $1.03; Green Cross Health was up 3c or 3.75% to 83c; South Port NZ added 10c or 1.9% to $5.36; and Marlin Global gained 3c or 3.3% to 94c.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 18c to $37.77; Chorus declined 18c or 1.99% to $8.85; Gentrack decreased 20c to $12.60; Port of Tauranga shed 19c or 2.86% to $6.45; and Vector was down 9c or 2.28% to $3.86.
Delegat Group fell 25c or 4.9% to $4.85; Foley Wines decreased 3c or 5% to 57c; Santana Minerals declined 3c or 5.66% to 50c; and General Capital shed 1.5c or 6% to 23.5c.
Fletcher Building, unchanged at $2.80, has appointed James Miller to its board. Miller is chair of Channel Infrastructure and a director of Ryman Healthcare, Mercury Energy and Vista Group.
Metro Performance Glass, unchanged at 6.4c, has had the maturity date of its loan facilities extended to the end of July based on the plan that Metro will undertake a capital raise in the June quarter next year.
Medicinal cannabis company Greenfern Industries, down 0.001c or 4.76% to 2c, has secured a $200,000 six-month loan from Emdex Limited, providing Greenfern with short-term funding to support its ongoing operations and initiatives.
