’Markets are pensive’
Solly said, “We saw selling across the board, with investors making the decision to move into other asset classes such as bonds now that they were over 5%.
“It’s been a while since people have looked at bond yields, and markets are now wondering whether they have peaked in the near term.”
Solly said investors were wary going into the weekend about potential military action in the Middle East.
“US President Donald Trump is sending reinforcements and stepping up the pressure point. The markets are pensive.”
A third US aircraft carrier with 2000 troops onboard is heading for the waters around Iran as the war enters its eighth month. A 2.5-million-barrel supertanker was hit by an unknown projectile, causing a fire as it passed through the Hormuz Strait.
Bond yields did soften, with the US 10 Year Treasury Note at 5.26% after hitting 5.304%, the highest level since May 2002. The NZ 10 Year Government Bond yield fell slightly to 5.069%, and Australia’s to 5.375%.
Oil prices remained volatile, trading at US$102.30 (NZ$182.26) a barrel and swinging from US$108.48 to US$96.70 during the week.
In other Asian Pacific markets, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index had fallen 2.64% at 5.45pm NZ time; the Japanese Nikkei 225 was down 1.03%; and the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.66% to 8671.1 points after a big fall the day before.
Other stocks
At home, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 46c to $45.99; Contact Energy eased 15c to $8.46; Summerset dropped a further 20c or 2.70% to a near six-year low of $7.20; Serko fell 8c or 6.15% to $1.22; and Vista Group shed 6c or 2.12% to $2.77.
Ebos Group declined 47c or 2.45% to a seven-and-a-half-year low of $18.75. Solly said the market was watching for a potential sell-down in Sigma Healthcare – the group behind Chemist Warehouse – and investors may be selling Ebos to buy Sigma.
Port of Tauranga fell 37c or 4.39% to $8.05 after telling the market that tangata whenua parties have appealed the fast-track decision to approve the Stella Passage wharf development.
Heartland Group fell 3c, or 2.34%, to $1.25 after its New Zealand chief executive, Leanne Lazarus, was confirmed as the new boss of the proposed TSB Heartland Bank. Kerry Boielle is the current CEO of New Plymouth-based TSB Bank.
The establishment panel will become the board of the merged bank: Bruce Irvine (chairman), Andrew Dixson, John Harvey, Kate Mitchell, and Shelley Ruha are current Heartland directors, and Mark Darrow and Mike Schubert are from TSB.
Other decliners were Sanford, falling 19c or 2.88% to $6.40; Oceania Healthcare, down 2.5c or 3.4% to 71c; Air NZ, down 2c or 4.88% to 39c; and Comvita, shedding 2c or 2.53% to 77c.
In the property market, Vital Healthcare Trust decreased 3.5c or 1.91% to $1.80; Precinct shed 2c or 2.11% to 93c; and Argosy was down 2c or 1.96% to $1.
Hallenstein Glasson added 35c, or 2.37%, to $15.10; Third Age Health increased 14c, or 3.16%, to $4.57; Marlin Global was up 3.4c, or 5.01%, to 71.2c; Kingfish fund collected 4.4c, or 4.13%, to $1.10; and Bremworth gained 2c, or 2.63%, to 78c.Steel & Tube rose 3.5c, or 11.86%, to 33c, while Vulcan Steel fell 20c, or 2.92%, to $6.65.
Cervical cancer screening company TruScreen fell 0.001c, or 7.14%, to 1.3c after its CEO, Martin Dillon, resigned for personal reasons and is leaving at the end of the month. Chairman Tony Ho will take over in the interim.
Winton Land, up 0.005c to $1.15, after disclosing that new chairman Michael Stiassny has bought his first shares in the company – 245,232 for $278,384.
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