NZ sharemarket rises as Trump backs down on Fed chair sacking

The New Zealand sharemarket rose today after US President Donald Trump backed down on his previously stated desire to forcibly remove the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell.

Wednesday, April 23rd 2025, 6:30PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 1.01% or 119.78 points, rising to 11,956.47, with 76,792,519 shares changing hands to the value of $214.6 million.

The S&P/NZX20 index closed at 7,103.63, up 1.19%, while the S&P/NZX10 index closed at 1,815.85, up 1.90%.

There were 76 gainers on the main board and 59 decliners.

Trump backtrack

Devon Funds Management's head of retail, Greg Smith, said the news of yet another backtrack by Trump was welcome news for the market.

“I think this might be ... maybe it’s the third time he’s blinked, obviously he’s not going to fire Powell,” Smith said.

“When he talked about firing Powell, that got markets pretty skittish and he came out yesterday or overnight and said that he had no intention of firing him but that he wants to see interest rates come down, which I suppose is all good in theory, but it’s his policy which is potentially slowing that process.”

The company with the most movement today was Ryman Healthcare. Last month, it undertook a significant capital raise that had underwriters left holding about $161m of shares after poor uptake by retail investors.

The equity raise coincided with a soft trading update from Ryman, and the stock has since dropped well below the offer price of $3.06.

The volume traded today suggests the underwriters, including Craigs Investment Partners, Forsyth Barr and Jarden, have been unloading those shares at a loss.

Ryman shares fell by 4.51% to $2.33, down 11c with a significant 40,645,268 shares trading hands to the value of $89,652,666.25.

Telco rises

Spark also had a lot of movement today, with its share price rising by 2.74% to $2.06, up 5.5c with 3,143,951 shares trading hands to the value of $6,527,711.69.

Auckland International Airport also had a positive day, with its share price rising by 2.74% to $8.07, up 21.5c with 1,550,584 shares trading hands to the value of $12,477,940.89.

Smith said that the NZ market is still in a volatile time, with plenty of nervousness around tariffs.

He also mentioned the Reserve Bank’s Credit Card Survey, which tracks the monthly spending on credit cards. It reported a slight increase to $4.59 billion.

Elsewhere, Infratil’s share price rose by 3.45% to $10.49, up 35c with 554,267 shares trading hands to the value of $5,781,503.19.

Summerset Group was also down by 31c or 2.78% to $10.84, with 686,828 shares changing hands to the value of $7,569,369.43.

US news

Internationally, Wall Street stocks jumped on Tuesday (local time), rebounding from the prior day’s rout, after upbeat comments from Trump administration officials about US-China trade talks.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door event in Washington that the tit-for-tat tariff war would de-escalate soon.

Later, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “The President and the administration are setting the stage for a deal ... the ball is moving in the right direction”.

But the International Monetary Fund slashed its forecast for global growth this year, citing the effect of Trump’s new tariff policies.

Major indices fell about 2.5% on Monday after Trump renewed his attacks on Powell, moves that prompted another rise in US Treasury bond yields. However, bond yields retreated on Tuesday.

Major indices spent the entire day in positive territory, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing at 39,187.04, up 2.7%.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.5% to 5,287.76, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.7% to 16,300.42.

– Additional reporting by AFP

Tags: Market Close