New Zealand's Reserve Bank has cut the official cash rate by 25 basis point to 1.5 per cent. Rates have been on hold at 1.75 per cent since November 2016.

The New Zealand dollar plunged 1.2 per cent against the US greenback on the news, but has since recovered to be 0.2 per cent lower at US65.76.

"Global economic growth has slowed since mid-2018, easing demand for New Zealand's goods and services. This lower global growth has prompted foreign central banks to ease their monetary policy stances, supporting growth prospects," the monetary policy committee said in a statement.

"However, there is uncertainty about the global economic outlook. Trade concerns remain, while some other indicators suggest trading-partner growth is stabilising."

Shares in HUB24 are down for the third day in a row, from $15.41 on Friday to $14.07 currently. Hub24 has dropped 3.4 per cent today against a broader market decline of 0.5 per cent.

Yesterday it was downgraded by Citi to a 'sell' due to the rising share price. And today it emerged chairman Bruce Higgins has sold 20 per cent of his shares.

Mr Higgins sold 200,000 shares on Monday at $15.15 for a total of $3 million. He still holds 796,000 shares and prior to Monday's sale was topping up with the purchase of 10,000 shares in late February at $11.81 apiece.

Treasury Wine Estates shares are down 6 per cent to a four week low of $15.17 today. In an unfortunate combination of news, the company revealed today chief executive Michael Clarke sold $7 million worth of shares last week. Meanwhile, Traders are also digesting a scathing assessment of Australia's biggest winemaker at a high profile New York investor conference by a US hedge fund manager.

Mr Clarke sold 375,000 shares at $17.22 each on 1 May for $6.5 million, and then returned to the market on 3 May to sell a further 25,000 shares at $17.25 for $431,250. He still holds about 543,000 ordinary shares (valued at $8.2 million today) and $18.9 million worth of bonus shares.

"The sales, which occurred on 1 May and 3 May, 2019, were made after the Company's market update on 1 May and were made during the chief executive's tight trading window," Treasury Wine Estates tells the market.

"The sales have been made in accordance with the Company's securities trading policy, including obtaining the required Board pre-trade approvals which provided Mr Clarke with the clearance to trade."

On 1 May Treasury told the market it had recorded "continued positive momentum in Asia with record depletions delivered for the nine months ending March 2019, including strong trading performance across the key Chinese New Year festive period".

Australia's biggest wine company also reiterated earlier guidance for earnings growth of about 25 per cent for fiscal 2019.

Shares in Computershare have dropped $1 in the past three sessions to $17.59 without any company news.

Analysts at Baillieu yesterday published a note highlighting the issues weighing on the share price. These include an interest rate cut (which did not eventuate) and reduced profitability from a subsidiary in the UK.

"In light of these we make modest downgrades to our earnings but find that a more positive investment case can still be made," the analysts write. They have a 'hold' rating with a target price of $19.

"We believe disciplined cost management is ingrained in Computershare's culture. We see scope for the announcement of a further $US65 million of annual cost initiatives in order to offset the impact of cost inflation."

Financials sector analyst at Watermark Funds Management, Harry Dudley, says Computershare holds money on behalf of companies ahead of dividend payments or acquisitions. It collects interest on that money and the amount of interest is directly linked to the target cash rate.

"It is about a third of Computershare's earnings," he explains.

MYOB will be removed from the ASX this afternoon following the implementation of the scheme of arrangement in which private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has purchased all the shares of MYOB for $3.40.

MYOB said shareholders will receive their cash shortly.

Shares in Bluescope Steel are down 30 cents to $13.12 today, a drop of 2.11 per cent.

The company is in the middle of a $250 million share buy back with $99 million left to go. This morning $10.2 million worth of shares traded, mostly through Macquarie's trading desk. Shares are 17 per cent higher now than before the buy-back was announced, but have softened since early April when shares were trading at a five-month high of $14.88.

The company's outlook for the current full financial year is 10 per cent earnings growth on its 2017-18 result of $1.269 million.

Australians can lay-by their hearing aids, dental work, and IVF procedures after Flexigroup signed up more retailers and service providers. Shares in Flexigroup are up 12.2 per cent after added Myer, IKEA, Strandbags, National Hearing Care, National Dental Plan, and City Fertility. Shoppers can spend up to $30,000 on Flexigroup's humm platform interest free.

"These retailers have seen how the humm platform supports customers in financing their lifestyle when it come to health, family, home, fashion and more," chief executive Rebecca James said.

Prominent hedge fund VGI Partners will list on the Australian Securities Exchange but none of the three key players in the operation — headed by former Caledonia executive Rob Luciano — will sell any of their shares.

VGI, which has run short-selling campaigns against well-known Australian firms including Slater & Gordon and Corporate Travel Management, will be valued at $370 million when it lists later this month. Its listed fund, VGI Partners Global Investments, will separately raise $300 million in additional capital. The listing, advised by Moelis Australia, was first revealed by the Australian Financial Review.

Mr Luciano and his business partners Doug Tynan and Robert Poiner will retain 80 per cent of the newly-listed hedge fund, which currently oversees about $2.1 billion in funds under management.

Read the full story from Kylar Loussikian here

Suncorp's mortgage portfolio shrank by $314 million in the first quarter and flooding caused more customers to fall behind on their loan repayments, a further sign of the weak conditions in retail banking. The financial conglomerate on Wednesday said the 0.7 per cent contraction in its $47.7 billion mortgage book, which offset gains in its business credit growth, was caused by fierce price competition and the ongoing slump in home loan growth. Shares are down 1.4 per cent to $13.41 compared to a 0.6 per cent drop in the broader market.

As a result of the quarterly decline in mortgage lending, its total loan book of more than $58.9 billion also contracted, by 0.5 per cent, in the March quarter. It rose 1 per cent in annual terms.

At the same time, the bank said there had been a 2.5 per cent lift in loans that were past due but not impaired, to $537 million, which it said was mainly due to weather events, including flooding in Townsville and across north west Queensland in the quarter.

It expects the rise in arrears to be temporary, based on previous experience that suggested customers took about six months to recover after flooding.

The S&P/ASX 200 has dropped 50 points on opening to 6244, a decline of 0.8 per cent.

BHP is taking away the most points with a drop of 0.7 per cent and traders are selling off CSR on the back of its weak full year results, the stock is down 1.3 per cent to $3.345.

There is very heavy trading in Regis Resources, down 0.2 per cent to $4.48, and in Fortescue Metals, down 1.1 per cent to $7.51.

Treasury Wines is down 5.2 per cent to $15.30 as news spreads of the short recommended by a hedge fund at the Sohn Conference in New York yesterday.

In this sinking market, just 18 companies are higher. Newcrest Mining is up. So is Woolworths, Northern Star resources, TPG, and Saracen Minerals.