Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said there was speculation that Infratil\u2019s associate, Australian data centre operator CDC, had won a deal to supply US artificial intelligence provider Anthropic (developer of Claude AI assistant) with 300-500MW of capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was enough to generate share price excitement after Infratil was heavily sold down the day before,\u201d he said. \u201cThe financial returns of the Anthropic deal remain to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodson said the Reserve Bank did the right thing in keeping the official cash rate (OCR) at 2.25%. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of spare capacity in the economy, but it does clear the way for one or two OCR hikes \u2013 with July looking likely. The market has already priced in the hikes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NZ dollar strengthened more than half a cent to US58.74c, from an intraday low of US58.33c, against the American greenback following the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) decision, which hinged on the vote by Governor Anna Breman.<\/p>\n
Three members of the monetary policy committee wanted a 25-basis-point increase in the OCR.<\/p>\n
The RBNZ said the global economic backdrop remained uncertain, and that supply chain disruptions, higher petrochemical prices and a more fragmented global trading environment were affecting the outlook.<\/p>\n
Inflation was expected to peak at 4.3% in the September quarter and return to the 2% target mid-point in mid-2027, the bank said.<\/p>\n
In the US, AI-linked stocks continued to drive the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 higher, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 1.19% to 26,656.18 and the S&P 500 gaining 0.61% to 7519.12 points, respectively.<\/p>\n
The Dow Jones Industrial Average came off its high, declining 0.23% to 50,461.68 points.<\/p>\n
Local stocks<\/p>\n
At home, Freightways increased 24c or 1.83% to $13.39; Mainfreight gained 65c to $58.65; Port of Tauranga added 7c to $8.09; Contact Energy was up 10c to $9.45; and Ryman Healthcare rose 8c or 3.6% to $2.30. Vista Group rose 21c or 9.13% to $2.51 after securing another Mexican deal<\/a>. Cinemex, with 289 sites and more than 2800 screens across 100 cities, is again adopting Vista\u2019s management software, including cloud services, under a five-year agreement.<\/p>\n Other gainers were Vulcan Steel up 15c or 2.26% to $6.80; and Blackpearl Group rising 9.5c or 13.77% to 78.5c.<\/p>\n Spark was down 5.5c or 2.78% to $1.92; Gentrack declined 12c or 3.13% to $3.71; NZME decreased 3c or 2.65% to $1.10; SkyCity shed 1c or 1.92% to 51c; Comvita dropped 2c or 2.94% to 66c; and Colonial Motor was down 15c or 2.07% to $7.10.<\/p>\n KMD Brands gained 0.009c, or 13.85%, to 7.4c after updating the market on improved sales,<\/a> $27.5m in cost savings (including the closure of 16 stores) and a business review expected to be completed in September.<\/p>\n Group sales for the third quarter ending April 26 were up 5.2% and for the nine months, 6.6%. Kathmandu\u2019s sales increased 12% and 12.2% respectively; Rip Curl\u2019s were up 4% and 4.4%; and Oboz sales decreased 8.9% in the quarter and were up 0.4% in the nine months.<\/p>\n The dual-listed banks had sharp falls, with ANZ declining $1.54, or 3.43%, to $43.34, and Westpac down $1.03, or 2.29%, to $44.<\/p>\n Metro Performance Glass, up 2c or 1.82% to $1.12, reported a 2.7% slide in full-year revenue<\/a> to $208.16m, an increase in operating earnings (ebitda) from $16.9m to $18.2m and a net loss of $939,000.<\/p>\n Online payroll firm PaySauce, unchanged at 23.5c, increased full-year revenue by 3% to $9.25m, with processing fee income up 13% to $7.2m. Customers increased 5% to 8600.<\/p>\n Scales Corp, up 3c to $6.15, confirmed its full-year net profit guidance of $50m-$55m after trading across the horticulture and global proteins divisions was positive for the first five months despite the impact of the Iran war.<\/p>\n The Mr Apple harvest was above expectations, at 4.7 million tray-carton equivalents, and the forecast pack-out is slightly lower at 77%.<\/p>\n Carpet maker Bremworth, down 4c or 5.41% to 70c, told the market there was a further delay<\/a> in the proposed takeover by Floorscape, backed by Mohawk Industries, after the Commerce Commission extended its decision date to June 30.<\/p>\n