NZX 50 falls 0.47% on inflation and rate hike concerns

The New Zealand share market fell on Tuesday as investors remained worried about soaring interest rates and an inflationary environment. The NZX returned to trading today after investors came back from the Good Friday and Easter break.

The S&P/NZX 50 index ended the trading session 0.47% lower at 11,835.88, weighed down by weakness in consumer staples and healthcare stocks. The benchmark index had closed 0.14% higher on Thursday.

Mining company Chatham Rock’s shares gained 15.91% at NZ$0.255 on acquiring the Korella Phosphate Mine. Chemicals specialist DGL Group gained 12.06% to NZ$4.18 after the group reported that its FY22 earnings would exceed its previous expectations.

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However, aged care provider Ryman Healthcare’s shares slid 4.35% to NZ$9.02 while top stock Fisher & Paykel fell 2.37% to $22.26 on Tuesday.

Wall Street ended lower, Asian stocks remained mixed

The US stock market ended majorly unchanged on Monday as traders and investors awaited earnings results this week and weighed policy tightening predictions by the Fed. The S&P 500 fell 0.02%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.11% and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.14%.

European markets were up while Asia-Pacific stocks remained mixed on Tuesday. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.12% as PBOC announced financial support for sectors impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, while Japan’s Nikkie 225 rose 0.65%.

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Investors are keeping an eye on measures taken by China to support its economy and rate hike possibilities by the Fed.

Oil prices rose, gold prices remain steady

Oil prices increased on Tuesday after experiencing an increase of 1% in the previous session. Investors were concerned over tight global supply after Libya was forced to stop some exports due to outages. However, Shanghai factories got ready to reopen after the lockdown in China eased some demand pressures.

At the time of writing, Brent crude futures were up 0.24% to US$113.43 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 0.02% to US$107.64 a barrel.

XAU/USD was down 0.27% at US$1,974.15 per ounce at the time of writing, after climbing to $1998.1 per ounce on Monday. Lower US treasury yields compensated for pressure on the dollar.

The NZD/USD pair was trading 0.03% higher at 0.6736 on Tuesday, at the time of writing.

Cryptocurrency market moves up today

The global crypto market was up 4.5% at US$1.89 trillion with a total market volume of US$89.98 billion in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin, XRP, Terra, PolkaDot and BNB have been trading higher in the range of 1-9% over the last 24 hours.