Lethargy seeped into New Zealand’s benchmark index today following global markets lacking energy overnight – but shares still managed to push the local index up by the end of the day.
ASB senior economist Mike Jones said in a morning note that it had been a “fairly listless overnight session” for international markets – with little movement in foreign exchange markets either.
Kiwibank economists said earlier today that oil prices were up by US$2 (NZ$3.18) per barrel, as G7 countries made the promise to stand with Ukraine as the Russian invasion continues.
The G7 countries – which consist of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – plan to cap Russian oil prices in a bid to pinch Russian revenue.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 20.7 points, or 0.19%, to 11,018.62. Turnover was $107.7 million.
In NZ’s market today, it was a good day for medicinal cannabis companies like Greenfern Industries and Cannasouth which rose 5.3% to 13.8 cents and 2.7% to 38 cents.
Greenfern announced it had secured an agreement to supply medicinal cannabis with an initial two-year binding offtake order for their Taranaki-grown medicinal cannabis.
Cannasouth held its annual general meeting this morning with chair Tony Ho telling shareholders that a capital raise wasn’t off the table in the coming year – but the future of medical cannabis looked bright.
Air NZ shares were flat at 56.5 cents per share, not moving from yesterday’s price of 56.5 cents while Auckland International Airport shares were up 1.1% to $7.36.
On the dairy front, Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund shares were flat at $3.20 while Synlait Milk (which had the index’s biggest decline yesterday) was up 2% to $3.15 and A2 Milk up 2.2% to $5.01.
The biggest decliner of the day was Eroad which fell 6.2% to $1.51.
Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge – which had an excellent day yesterday and jumped 6% – was down 4.2% to 69 cents today. Infrastructure company Freightways also dropped 3.7% to $9.22.
Radius Residential Healthcare was the biggest riser of the day, up 6.6% to 39 cents. But retirement village and rest home operator Ryman Healthcare was down 0.22% to $9.18.
Jones said the NZD/USD cross and AUD/USD cross had tended to “underperform” the other major FX crosses, with the former “dribbling off” to around the 63-cent mark, down from 63.20 yesterday.
CMC analyst Tina Teng said both the Australian and NZ dollars had weakened as local bond yields slid.
“Along with the recent price falls in the commodity markets,” she said.
The NZ dollar was trading at 62.96 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 63.08 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index was at 70.98 from 71.10 yesterday.
