Mainfreight share price leaps on back of half-year profit surge – Market close

Detailed summary

Mainfreight reignited the New Zealand sharemarket with strong half-year earnings, while leading AI stock Nvidia faced further discomfort. The S&P/NZX 50 Index made gains…

Mainfreight increased revenue by 19.8% to $3.12 billion and net profit by 66.4% to $155.39 million for the six months ending September.

Mainfreight reignited the New Zealand sharemarket with strong half-year earnings, while leading AI stock Nvidia faced further discomfort.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index made gains throughout the day, though it was a choppy session, and closed at 14,259.23, up 79.37 points or 0.56%.

There were 100 gainers and just 30 decliners on the main board, and turnover was higher, with 38.6 million share transactions worth $178.4 million.

In after-hours trading on Wall Street, Nvidia – the world’s second most valuable company after Apple – fell 8.61% to US$158.78 ($285.76) after it was revealed that its chief executive Jensen Huang had a second extramarital affair with an employee, along with a suspected Chinese spy.

Reports said the Nvidia board was meeting to consider Huang’s future, and there was speculation he would be fired.

One commentator said Huang’s departure would bring down the curtain on an era during which he stoked the global artificial-intelligence boom and became a geopolitical star.

This followed a rebound on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.49% to 52,486.49 points; the S&P 500 increased 1.31% to 7,619.38; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.6% to 25,466.19.

Rocket Lab gained a further 5.49% to US$66.15 following its solid third-quarter result.

Opening of the article, excerpted from NZ Herald. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.