Shane Solly, portfolio manager at Harbour Asset Management, said it was a calming day for artificial intelligence, with both the US and Chinese governments saying they were happy with how the sector was progressing.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cTen-year bond yields have gone over 5%, and that\u2019s a magical number that doesn\u2019t benefit sharemarkets. And we are staring down the barrel of a US Federal Reserve rate rise of 25 basis points on Thursday morning NZ time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solly said markets could fall if the Fed did not hike or take a hawkish stance. It would signal discipline in tackling the inflation bubble.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tough life being a central banker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ten-year government bond yields have reached near three-year highs in both NZ and the US, hitting 5.058% and 5.026%, respectively.<\/p>\n
Wall Street was lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.29% to 52,421.1 points; the S&P 500 decreasing 0.48% to 7619.98; and the Nasdaq Composite declining 0.56% to 26,186.41.<\/p>\n
Across the Tasman, the S&P\/ASX 200 Index had fallen 0.92% to 8669.4 points at 6pm NZ time.<\/p>\n
Local stocks<\/p>\n
At home, the retirement village sector was weaker, with Summerset declining 28c or 3.55% to $7.60; Ryman Healthcare down 3c to $1.91; and Oceania Healthcare shedding 2c or 2.78% to 70c.<\/p>\n
This followed another soft housing market update, with the REINZ House Price Index declining 0.3% in August and sales volume down 4.3%.<\/p>\n
ANZ said house prices had been falling slightly in Auckland over the past few months, declining sharply in Wellington, and were close to flat elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s data is consistent with our expectation that the housing market will stay soft over the coming months, and that house prices will end 2026 slightly down on where they started the year,\u201d ANZ said.<\/p>\n
Infratil, with exposure to data centres and AI, fell for the second straight day, dropping 50c or 3.54% to a 17-week low of $13.61.<\/p>\n
Chorus was down 14c to $8.29; Channel Infrastructure declined 9c or 2.62% to $3.35; Freightways shed 15c to $12.21; and SkyCity shed 1.5c or 2.26% to 65c.<\/p>\n
Vital Healthcare Property Trust was down 4c or 2.21% to $1.77; Santana Minerals declined 3.5c or 5.11% to 65c; and Marlin Global fund decreased 3c or 4.48% to 64c.<\/p>\n
Spark added 4c or 1.99% to $2.05; a2 Milk gained 18c or 2.16% to $8.52; Gentrack increased 23c or 5.84% to $4.17; and Green Cross Health collected 10c or 5.03% to $2.09.<\/p>\n