{"id":333662,"date":"2026-03-17T08:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T08:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/333662\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T08:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T08:22:10","slug":"nzx-unbothered-by-aussie-cash-rate-lift-market-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/333662\/","title":{"rendered":"NZX unbothered by Aussie cash rate lift \u2013 Market close"},"content":{"rendered":"The Reserve Bank of Australia increased its cash rate, as expected, by 25 basis points to 4.1%, saying there is a material risk that inflation will remain above target longer than previously anticipated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conflict in the Middle East has resulted in sharply higher fuel prices, which, if sustained, will add to inflation. Short-term measures of inflation expectations have already risen,\u201d the bank said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigher prices and prolonged uncertainty may cause growth to be lower in Australia\u2019s major trading partners and also in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
International lens<\/p>\n
Mark Lister, investment director with Craigs Investment Partners, said the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and the Banks of Japan and England were also meeting this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll eyes will be on their views of the rising oil price and impact on inflation, and markets are treading water and guided by international signals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lister said the big cash rate differential of 4.1% and 2.25% in New Zealand will likely result in the kiwi softening even further. It was already at its lowest level against the Australian dollar since 2013.<\/p>\n
By the end of the day the New Zealand dollar was steady at A82.6c against the Australian.<\/p>\n
The oil price was also steady, with Brent crude trading at US$102.70 ($175.95) a barrel, up 2.5% for the day.<\/p>\n
ANZ Research said the Selected Price Indexes for February were a touch stronger than expected, and its first-quarter consumer price (CPI) index forecast of an 0.6% increase was \u201ctilted slightly to the upside\u201d.<\/p>\n
Impact \u2018still to come\u2019<\/p>\n
The bulk of the impact from the oil price shock, assuming it is sustained, will fall in the second-quarter CPI, ANZ said.<\/p>\n
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 28c to $38.63; Meridian Energy was up 9c to $5.47; Vista Group added 4.5c or 2.49% to $1.85; Seeka increased 10c or 1.85% to $5.50; and NZME collected 2c or 1.79% to $1.14.<\/p>\n
Mercury Energy, up 5c to $6.45, has opened the fifth renewable energy generation unit at its Ng\u0101 Tamariki geothermal station near Taup\u014d at a cost of $220m. The new unit lifts the station\u2019s annual average generation to 1120GWh, enough to power all residential homes in Christchurch.<\/p>\n
Mercury said the Ng\u0101 Tamariki expansion will help deliver 3.5 terawatt-hours of new generation by 2030 \u2013 about 8% of New Zealand\u2019s annual energy demand.<\/p>\n
My Food Bag increased 3c or 15% to 23c after reporting increased sales in the second half of the 2026 financial year and forecasting full-year net profit of $6.4m-$6.8m, above the previous year\u2019s $6.3m.<\/p>\n
Revenue growth is expected to be 6% for the half-year and 4.9% for the 12 months ending March, My Food Bag said.<\/p>\n
Ebos Group was down 39c or 1.72% to $22.25; Mainfreight declined $1.50 or 2.39% to $61.30; Freightways eased 15c to $13; Skellerup shed 14c or 2.48% to $5.50; and Ryman Healthcare was down 5c or 2.16% to $2.26.<\/p>\n
Tourism Holdings declined 11c or 4.91% to $2.13; Serko shed 11.5c or 5.81% to $1.865; Turners Automotive decreased 18c or 2.15% to $8.21; Sky TV fell 14c or 4.39% to $3.05; and Winton Land was down 6c or 2.94% to $1.98.<\/p>\n
Property stocks<\/p>\n
In the property sector, Kiwi was down 2c or 2.11% to 93c, and Precinct decreased 2.5c or 2.27% to $1.075.<\/p>\n
Among the mining stocks, Santana Minerals was up 3c or 3.19% to 97c, and Rua Gold declined 6c or 3.23% to $1.80.<\/p>\n
Taiko Critical Minerals, down 0.005c or 2.04% to 24c, was back trading after retracting its financial model for the West Coast Barrytown project.<\/p>\n
NZX supervisor NZ RegCo indicated that the independent adviser who prepared the model did not meet the definition of a competent person under the joint ore reserves committee code.<\/p>\n
Manuka Resources, unchanged at 13.9c, reported a $12.87m loss for the six months ending December compared with an $8.37m loss in the previous corresponding period. The miner has $11.1m in cash and an additional $9.3m in short-term liquidity.<\/p>\n
Manuka Resources said it was considering a number of options to progress the final environmental approvals for the Taranaki vanadium project. The marine and discharge consents were declined by an expert panel.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Reserve Bank of Australia increased its cash rate, as expected, by 25 basis points to 4.1%, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2840,2937,1643,17517,138,3595,6932,651,219,67286,1943,12469,4507,8461,225,111,139,69,13979,16237,19257,7676,10665,801,1125,117867,2224,1361,55878,178921,80],"class_list":["post-333662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-across","tag-aussie","tag-bank","tag-because","tag-business","tag-by","tag-cash","tag-close","tag-economy","tag-hiked","tag-inflation","tag-interest","tag-late","tag-lift","tag-market","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzx","tag-rally","tag-rate","tag-rates","tag-reserve","tag-rising","tag-sharemarket","tag-staged","tag-tasman","tag-that","tag-unbothered","tag-unperturbed","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}