Finance News Update for Thursday 27 Dec 2018

Top New Zealand News

Infratil has agreed to sell its NZ Bus unit to Next Capital for up to $240 million, but will help the Australian private equity firm pay for it Read more »

New Zealand shares gained in shortened Christmas Eve trading, shaking off the negative lead set by Wall Street's decline on Friday night, with defensive stocks such as property investment firms and power companies among the gainers. Read more »

Infratil has agreed to sell its NZ Bus unit to Next Capital for up to $240 million, but will help the Australian private equity firm pay for it. Read more »

The New Zealand dollar trod water in quiet Christmas Eve trading but may continue to fall into the New Year as uncertainty over geopolitics keeps investors uneasy. Read more »

PGG Wrightson will buy back a small parcel of shares from an investor who voted against the sale of the seeds business to Denmark's DLF Seeds. Read more »

About 38 percent of New Zealanders have been asked an illegal question during a job interview this year and, what’s possibly more surprising, 89 percent of those surveyed by the Seek online job advertisements platform answered it Read more »

MYOB directors appear to be backing themselves to come up with a better offer while keeping the KKR takeover offer as a backstop Read more »

First NZ Capital is adding derivatives trading to its bow with the purchase of specialist derivatives broking house OMF to achieve a strategic consolidation of New Zealand's private wealth management and investor service providers Read more »

Snakk Media’s chief executive Joel Williams has ceased his employment with the company, it advised in a one-sentence statement late Friday Read more »

Investors in Vital Healthcare Property Trust have an anxious wait to get a clearer view of whether they can recoup the A$81 million the trust’s manager has forced them to invest in ASX-listed Healthscope Read more »

Top Australia News

Australian Market Report: The Australian share market has plunged to a new two-year low, dragged down by energy stocks, while insurers have been pelted with millions of dollars in claims following Sydney's hailstorm. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 38.2 points, or 0.69 per cent to 5467.6 on Friday. Read more »

The Australian dollar was heading for a steep weekly loss on the safe haven yen as the risk of a partial shutdown of the US government piled pressure on already shaky equity markets. But it fared a little better on the US dollar, which had troubles of its own from political uncertainty to sharply lower Treasury yields. Read more »

Australian Government joins global condemnation of Chinese hacking. Australian officials have confirmed local companies are among the global victims of an extensive campaign of cyber attacks backed by the Chinese Government, aimed at stealing commercial intellectual property. Read more »

Sydney hailstorm declared a catastrophe as damage bill hits $125 million. Just one day after hailstorms pummelled Sydney and the central coast, it is already the most expensive catastrophe for insurance companies this year. Read more »

What putting $US10,000 in these assets would have returned in 2018. In terms of losses, there have been worse years. But for sheer breadth of poor performers, 2018 is shaping up to be a woeful year for investors - the worst ever by at least one measure. Out of eight major asset classes tracked by Bloomberg, just two are on track to deliver positive total returns this year. Read more »

The CSIRO and the energy market operator say existing coal plants are still one of the lowest cost forms of power but new wind and solar farms will soon be cheaper, even without a carbon price. The join energy cost report co-authored by CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator also found more batteries would be needed to support the growing level of renewables, and the grid would need to lean heavily on consumers to use less power at peak times. Read more »

Silver City Minerals Ltd (ASX:SCI) (FRA:AUT) has raised $570,000 from high-quality investors in a placement led by Empire Capital Partners Pty Ltd. The base and precious metals explorer’s placement to sophisticated investors was priced at 1.2 cents a share and will include a one-for-two free-option priced at 3 cents that expires in three years. Read more »

Shell’s giant Prelude floating LNG vessel is edging closer to production as the accommodation vessel that housed up to 750 workers over the year moves away to allow the final stages of start-up to occur. The Posh Arcadia accommodation vessel sailed to a station about 6km north of Prelude on Thursday morning, according to vessel tracking website MarineTraffic. Read more »

Blackstone Minerals attracts new German substantial shareholder with a 10.18% interest Read more »

New Energy Minerals Ltd (ASX:NXE) (FRA:GGY) substantial shareholder Regius Resources Group Limited has increased its interest in the graphite focused company to 11.92% from 6.85%. This follows the conversion of $700,000 debt owing by New Energy to Regius by the issue of 10 million shares. Read more »

Top International News

North/South Americas Market Report: North and South American markets are mixed today. The S&P 500 is up 2.77% while the IPC gains 0.22%. The Bovespa is off 0.59%. Read more »

European Market Report: European markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The DAX gained 0.21%, while the CAC 40 led the FTSE 100 lower. They fell 1.45% and 0.52% respectively. Read more »

Asian Market Report: Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.89%, while the Hang Seng led the Shanghai Composite lower. They fell 0.40% and 0.26% respectively. Read more »

U.S. Market Report: Wall Street fell in volatile trading on Friday, after a few failed attempts at a rally, led by a drop in technology and other high-growth sectors, while defensive stocks rose amid concerns of slowing growth and a looming government shutdown. Read more »

Presidents play with fire when they brag about the stock market. President Donald Trump took full ownership of the stock market boom. That unusual strategy is backfiring now that markets are crumbling. The Dow spiked 8,200 points between Trump's election and late January 2018. It barreled through one milestone after another as investors embraced the Trump agenda of tax cuts and deregulation. Growth accelerated and corporate profits spiked. Read more »

Trump vows 'very long' shutdown in border wall standoff Read more »

The Federal Reserve is listening to concerns expressed by markets and open to reassessing its policy views next year, one of the most influential Fed officials said on Friday, even while he stood by plans for a couple more interest-rate hikes and further paring of a bond portfolio. Read more »

A bear market in the so-called FAANG stocks - Wall Street’s most popular trade going into the year - is pushing fund managers into searching for the next big growth companies that can lead the overall market higher. Read more »

Amazon.com Inc.'s AMZN, -4.67% stock tumbled 4.4% in midday trade, with the e-commerce and cloud giant's market-capitalization dropping below the $700 billion mark for the first time in eight months. Read more »

Signs that the world economy is starting to weaken have alarmed investors. Some global companies have warned of a slowdown in China. But things are looking good for Nike. Read more »

Online clothing retailers hunt for better fit to cut costly returns. Models testing fashion brands like Adidas (ADSGn.DE), Benetton and Gap (GPS.N) are finding that almost a third of the shoes and clothes they try on are bigger or smaller than the size on the label indicates, explaining why many clothes bought online are sent back. Read more »

Businesses that trade with the EU need to take steps now to prepare for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, a government minister has warned. Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mel Stride told the BBC's Today programme "there is a call to action now". Read more »

Business investment has now declined for three quarters in a row, figures show, its worst run since the economic downturn of 2008 to 2009. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said investment fell by 1.1% in the July to September period compared with the previous quarter. Read more »

UK car production tumbles in November Read more »

British Gas owner challenges energy price cap. Centrica applies for judicial review on how cap is calculated days before savings kick-in for 11m households Read more »

Whitbread gets EU clearance for Costa sale Read more »

Value of Debenhams slips below fishing equipment retailer. Debt-ridden chain is worth about £8m less than Angling Direct as shares tumble Read more »

The Miseducation of Emmanuel Macron. Emmanuel Macron appears to be growing up in public. Eleven days before his 41st birthday, France’s president—looking uncharacteristically haggard—made a humbling televised apology to the nation as he tried to appease the protesters who’ve dented the country’s economic growth and are threatening to shut down his reform agenda. Read more »