The New Zealand dollar hit a month high today while shares in healthcare manufacturer Ebos bounced up on the news of the company’s $3 billion revenue in its first quarter. 

Electus Financial’s managing director Alex Hill said the US dollar weakness was “the story across the board” as markets waited to see how much the federal reserve hikes interest rates next week.

The kiwi was trading at 58.34 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 57.31 cents yesterday. The NZ dollar hasn’t reached 58 cents against the greenback since Sept 23.

“A lot more commentators are talking about the pain that they're seeing in the economy,” Hill told BusinessDesk.

“There’s disbelief over how it can withstand higher interest rates.”

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 54 points, or 0.5%, to 11,100.52. Turnover was a very light $87.2 million.

Ebos Group was up 2.5% to $37.05 after its annual meeting this afternoon, where the wholesaler and distributor of healthcare products announced it had experienced a “pleasing” start to the new financial year.

Chief executive John Cullity said Ebos had strong revenue and earnings growth from its healthcare and animal care segments.

For the three months ended Sept 30, Ebos recorded revenue of $3 billion, with underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) at $142m.

Devon Funds’ Greg Smith said it was a positive result and the market had responded accordingly.

ANZ Bank reported that its annual net profit rose 20% as margins fattened in the second half and on hedging gains.

Statutory net profit for the year ended September rose to $2.3b – up from $1.9b the previous year. Hedging gains contributed $235m, compared with just $12m in the previous year.

ANZ’s shares had one of the biggest falls on the index today, falling 4% to $27.70.

Smith said the share price drop was due to disappointment in the company’s cost guidance being higher than expected.

SkyCity Entertainment Group announced that its $200m car parks deal with Australian global financial services group Macquarie had fallen through.

Smith said the announcement “wasn’t a surprise” as the market had been aware for some time it was likely the plan wouldn’t go through.

The casino operator told the market that it had received a termination notice from MPF Parking – which is owned by Macquarie – for its long-term concession deal granted to MPF for its car parks at its Auckland site.

SkyCity is holding its annual meeting tomorrow and its shares were down 0.4% to $2.70 today.

Freightways was up 1.7% to $10.15. The transport company, which specialises in courier mailing, held its annual meeting in Auckland today. Revenue for the first three months of the 2023 financial year was $237m, the firm said, with a net profit of $19.3m.

Manawa Energy jumped up almost 5% by mid-afternoon and ended the day up 4.4% to $5.26.

Rubber manufacturer Skellerup told shareholders at its annual meeting yesterday that the company’s transformation wasn’t yet finished. 

“I love winning. I hate losing,” chief executive David Mair said. “Why would you want to come second?” 

The company said it expected net profit of $48m to $52m in the year ending June 30, 2023, which would beat the record $47.8m posted in 2022.

Today the shares were flat at $5.30.

Recruitment firm Accordant had one of the most significant leaps today, up 6.7% to $1.75 but with very light volume traded.

It yesterday reported net profit was up 37% to $2.1m and its interim dividend of 6.5 cents remained unchanged from a year earlier