Market commentary
headwinds, including slowing economies.
United States Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said after the Jackson Hole Symposium that the central bank would continue to raise interest rates to fight inflation. This would mean some pain for households and business but the alternative was far greater pain. Mr Sullivan said Powell’s message had spooked the markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.03% to 32,283.4 points, S&P 500 was down 3.37% to 4057.66, and Nasdaq Composite tumbled 3.94% to 12,141.71 points. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 1.95% to 6965.50 yesterday.
At home, a2 Milk beat market expectation with its annual result and surged 53c or 9.69% to $6.
Retail jeweller Michael Hill International produced a solid annual result, rising 5c or 4.31% to $1.21 after reporting a 13.9% lift in net profit to $A46.7 million ($NZ52.43 million) on revenue of $A595.2 million, up 7%. Fellow retailers Briscoe Group was down 12c to $5.22; Hallenstein Glasson declined 16c or 2.9% to $5.35; and the
Warehouse Group decreased 5c to $3.26.
Marsden Maritime Holdings rose 32c or 5.82% to $5.82 after Port of Tauranga chief executive Leonard Sampson said Northport should expand its container operation to take the pressure off Ports of Auckland. Port of Tauranga which has a 50% share of Northport near Whangarei, was down 9c to $6.81.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare declined 59c to $19.61; Auckland International Airport was down 10c to $7.58; Freightways decreased 34c to $10.41; Fletcher Building shed 13c to $5.54; and Mainfreight was down $1 to $75.50.
Ryman Healthcare declined 24c to $8.95; Summerset Group Holdings shed 26c to $10.74; Air NZ decreased 1c to 65.5c; and Tourism Holdings was down 8c to $2.62.
Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund fell 11c to $2.98 after the cooperative downgraded its forecast milk price from $9.50 to $9.25 per kgMS.
Heartland Group Holdings was down 7c to $1.79; Sky Network Television fell 12c to $2.45; and Just Life Group fell 6c or 10.71% to 50c.
Restaurant Brands slumped 41c to $8.14 after reporting a 56% fall in net profit to $15.3 million. Cinema software management firm Vista Group declined 3c to $1.85 after reporting a net loss of $18m on revenue of $62.4 million. Transtasman fuel supplier Ampol fell $1.36 to $38.44 after telling the market it was selling 49% worth of 51 Z Energy service stations to Australianbased Charter Hall Retail REIT for $126 million.
Among the few gainers, PGG Wrightson increased 18c to $4.69; Serko was up 8c to $3.58; and Ventia Services Group improved 7c to $3.16. —