Daily Dispatch: US-Iran tensions spook markets
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Market Summary
US markets opened the week on the back foot after US and Israeli strikes on Iran jolted investors on Wall Street and beyond.
The Nasdaq was down 1.5% on Monday, and the S&P 500 and Dow Jones down 1.1% each.
European stocks were also in negative territory. The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell almost 1.8% in its latest session.
In Asia, major markets also started the day lower, however, some losses in the region were offset by gains in oil and gold mining stocks.
Back here, the S&P / NZX 50 fell 0.48% at the end of Monday on reasonable volumes, which was better than expected considering the geopolitical backdrop. There were warnings about petrol, costs in general, travel insurance and stock slumps in the wake of missiles flying across the Middle East.
Business news in the day included the start of an attempt by Foodstuffs North Island to overturn a decision by the Commerce Commission, which declined it permission to merge with Foodstuffs South Island. Michael Hill International reported a growth in profits of about a third in its half year, sending shares up 2.86%, while software and services Enprise Group reported a 3.5% growth in revenue and a net loss of $0.54 million, compared with a profit of $0.15 million in the prior period.
On the main board, decliners included Tourism Holdings, down 9.56%, New Zealand King Salmon fell 6.98%, Vista Group dropped 6.35% and TruScreen slipped 5.56%.
Gainers included Bremworth, which was up 14.18%. The company’s co-founder and largest shareholder, Grant Biel, and others sold some of their shareholdings last week, as the company remains the subject of a takeover offer. Manuka Resources rose 11.46% after it said it had secured a US$30m term facility with US’ Nebari Natural Resources Credit Fund. New Talisman Gold Mines rose 6.25% and Smart Gold ETFs advanced 3.76% as capital flew to safe assets in an uncertain world.
In Sydney the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.03%, led up by oil and gas play Karoon Energy, which rose 15.21% on having its assets outside the Middle East, which was the same as Resolute Mining, which gained 10.44% for the same reason.
While we slept
Iran’s strikes have hit a Qatar LNG output, shaking global energy markets. Qatar stopped production of liquefied natural gas after attacks by Iranian drones, sending stocks of European natural gas futures soaring. The shutdown is expected to have far-reaching impacts, as Qatar is one of the world’s largest providers of LNG. About 20% of global LNG exports come from the Gulf, primarily Qatar, and are shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. All eyes are now on the Strait of Hormuz, critical for oil and energy markets.
Nvidia is set to invest $4 billion into two companies developing photonic technologies. Lumentum and Coherent will each receive US$2 billion from the chip giant as part of the strategic investment. The companies are developing optics technology, systems which generate or transmit light and are used for sensing and data transfer. The deal with Lumentum is multi-year, which includes a multi-billion-dollar purchase commitment from Nvidia. Coherent and Nvidia will work on developing next-generation photonics for AI infrastructure.
What’s up today
In today’s The Post, Dita De Boni reports NZ e-waste leader Echo Tech has scaled up by bolting on a complementary company. Miriam Bell reports personal loan arrears have hit the highest level in a decade and Luke Malpass reports cyber extortion tops charts as new biggest online threat. Aimee Shaw reports GrabOne is under new ownership and is relaunching its business, and Roeland van den Bergh reports a chef has won a six-figure payout after catastrophic failure by employer to follow due process.
Stats NZ’s new home consents data and the annual tourism satellite account data are due to be released today.