Wall Street positive
Wall Street was positive with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.66% to 46,429.49 points; S&P 500 up 0.54% to 6591.9; and Nasdaq Composite increasing 0.77% to 21,929.83.
The oil price continued to bounce around and at 6pm NZ time was trading at US$104 a barrel, having gone under $98 the day before.
In its latest property report, ANZ Research is predicting house prices will fall 2% this year, even though prices “unexpectedly lifted 0.6% in February”.
ANZ said the economy was now facing extreme uncertainty in the form of a global energy shock stemming from the conflict in the Middle East. The challenges for the housing market are confidence about the economic outlook and upward pressure on mortgage rates.
The increase in wholesale swap rates has been sharp and has already started to feed into higher mortgage rates.
“There are plenty of new listings compared to sales, the length of time it is taking to sell a house has been rising, and fewer homes are selling at auction,” ANZ said.
Robertshawe said the higher inflation and interest rates made it tougher for the housing market and in particular the retirement village sector.
“I’m not surprised the sector is being hit even though it has no exposure to fuel prices.”
Oceania Healthcare was down 2.5c or 3.38% to 71.5c, Ryman Healthcare was steady at $2.16; and Summerset was up 10c to $9.35.
Mainfreight on up
Mainfreight rose $3.50 or 6.01% to $61.70 after falling to $57.21 two days previously.
Robertshawe said companies like Mainfreight, Freightways and Air New Zealand should be able to pass on higher fuel costs to freight forwarders.
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 53c to $37.72; Freightways gained 18c to $12.58; Mercury Energy added 12c or 1.92% to $6.37; and Turners Automotive increased 16c or 1.87% to $8.73.
Infratil increased 28c or 2.5% to $11.46 after outlining the strong demand for data centre operator CDC in a Sydney briefing for analysts and institutional investors.
The utilities investor said it was focused on supporting CDC to deliver more capacity and meet growing demand for data centre space across Australasia. CDC has 18 operational sites and another five under construction.
Infratil upgraded its operating earnings (ebitdaf) guidance for CDC to A$680m-$720m in the 2027 financial year, more than double the earnings in the 2025 full year.
But full-year 2026 earnings are expected to be at the lower end of the current guidance of A$390m-$400m because of the timing of existing contracted capacity to the back end of the financial year, Infratil said.
T&G Global share sell
T&G Global, up 1c to $2.38, confirmed it has appointed Goldman Sachs to assist in the sale of BayWa AG’s 74% majority shareholding.
T&G, formerly Turners and Growers, said it was continuing to review its strategic options and no decision has been made on that process.
Other gainers were Hallenstein Glasson up 25c or 2.66% to $9.65; Delegat Group adding 8c or 2.07% to $3.94; Eroad improving 2c or 2.42% to 84.5c; and Metro Performance Glass increasing 3c or 3.09% to $1.
Ebos Group was down 45c or 2% to $22; Seeka shed 11c or 2.12% to $5.08; and CDL Investments decreased 2c or 2.82% to 69c.
Among the mining stocks, Rua Gold rose 21.5c or 13.74% to $1.78, and Santana Minerals was down 5.5c or 6.11% to 84.5c.
Property for Industry, up 1c to $2.31, indicated it will be making an offer of 6.5-year, fixed-rate bonds next week. The company earlier postponed an investor conference call for the proposed offer because of the uncertain market conditions.
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