New Zealand and Australian markets are preparing for a soft end to the year after US investors crystallised some of this year’s gains with the Magnificent Seven among those leading declines on Wall Street on Friday.
The traditional Santa rally – the last five trading days of December and first two of January – has waxed and waned over the holiday-affected period and Australian futures markets are pointing to a 0.4% decline on the ASX, which may spill over across the Tasman, in the last full day of trading in 2024.
In saying that, the S&P/NZX 50 index is up 12% so far this year – potentially its first double-digit gain since 2020 – and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 has gained 8.8% so far in 2024.
Meanwhile, Wall Street is on track for another strong year, with the S&P 500 up 25% and the Nasdaq up 31%.
Tech stocks weighed on US markets on Friday, with Amazon, Tesla, Nvidia and Apple among those coming off the boil.
Aviation is back in the headlines with South Korea’s deadliest air accident over the weekend, where 179 people died when a Jeju Air flight landed and crashed at Muan International Airport. Planemaker Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration are helping South Korean authorities investigating the cause of the crash.
Some beef
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities are investigating claims that a sharp increase in beef imports between 2019 and 2024 damaged its domestic industry. The Asian nation’s biggest sources of beef imports are from Brazil, Argentina and Australia.
T&G Global’s controlling shareholder BayWa said on Friday it’s agreed a restructuring deal with its major shareholders and financiers that will last until 2027. The German group is selling its stake of Austria’s RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria and is reportedly eyeing up a sale of its T&G stake in 2026.
Chinese data on Friday continued to show a softness in the world’s second-biggest economy, with industrial profits down 7.3% in November, slowing from a 10% decline in the prior month.
The kiwi dollar rose to 56.33 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 56.14 cents on Friday at 5pm, and advanced to 90.60 Australian cents from 90.35 cents.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Cofohint Esin on Unsplash.