“The QSBO business confidence survey was another piece of evidence that the economy has turned a corner. Building consents have increased, and the market is well positioned to have a better year,” Lister said.
He said in the United States, it was comforting that inflation was a little softer, and investors will now be watching the latest reporting season.
The US December consumer price index increased 0.2% and 2.6% year over year, below economists’ forecasts of 0.3% and 2.8%, respectively. However, Wall Street was lower as the fourth-quarter earnings reporting season got underway.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.8% to 49,191.99 points; the S&P 500 was down 0.19% to 6,963.74; and the Nasdaq Composite eased 0.1% to 23,709.87.
JP Morgan, the first to report, declined 4.19% to US$310.90 ($541.25) after meeting revenue targets, but investment banking fees declined 5%. Goldman Sachs, Mastercard and Visa were also down.
The banking industry there is concerned about President Donald Trump’s latest move to impose a 10% cap on credit card interest rates for one year.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index surged to an all-time high after gaining a further 1.57% to 54,388.16 points (at 6pm NZ time) on rumours that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will be calling a snap election to strengthen her parliamentary mandate.
A US$135.5 billion economic stimulus and a weakening yen to its lowest level in nearly 18 months have sparked global investor attention. The stimulus package aimed to boost Japan’s slowing economy and support inflation-hit consumers, and investors believe a snap election – Takaichi has 70% approval ratings – could deliver economic stability with her “responsible and proactive fiscal spending”.
Back home, among leading stocks, Infratil was up 31c or 2.75% to $11.60; a2 Milk gained 21c or 1.97% to $10.85; Mainfreight collected 77c to $69.57; and Spark rebounded 6c or 2.65% to $2.32.
In the energy sector, Contact added 9c to $9.27, and Vector increased by 13c, or 2.73%, to $4.90.
Turners Automotive hit an 18-year intraday high of $8.43 but finished the day down 1c to $8.30. Turners’ all-time closing high was $26 in September 2004, and its all-time low was 54c in July 2009.
Lister said Turners continues to deliver by growing earnings and finding new growth opportunities.
“They are proving the doubters wrong, though there’s not many of them. They sell used cars and have been through a three-year recession, yet they keep performing against a challenging backdrop. I find that really interesting, and it’s a reflection of the management running the business well and knowing their market and customers.
“Even at the present share price level, Turners are far from done, and there’s plenty of growth ahead of them.”
Other gainers were SkyCity, up 2.5c or 2.65% to 97c; Tower, up 4c or 2.05% to $1.99; and Winton Land, up 4c or 1.75% to $2.32.
Among tech stocks, Blackpearl Group rose 4.5c or 4.76% to 99c; ikeGPS added 5c or 4.59% to $1.14; Solution Dynamics was up 2.5c or 3.55% to 73c; and Eroad gained 5c or 4.13% to $1.26.
Ebos Group was down 27c to $26.40; Sanford fell 31c or 4.1% to $7.25; Heartland Group shed 3.5c or 2.85% to $1.19; and Michael Hill retreated 1c or 1.98% to 49.5c.
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