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(1) The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has confirmed it is jointly conducting a cross-Tasman region large bank stress test with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), covering the four major local banks in New Zealand (ANZ Bank New Zealand, ASB Bank, Bank of New Zealand, Westpac New Zealand) and their Australian parent banks. (2) The stress test's hypothetical scenarios include: a prolonged conflict in the Middle East leading to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and oil prices surging to $160 per barrel; a significant slowdown in the global economy, taking three years to recover slowly; inflation soaring in New Zealand due to skyrocketing energy and fertilizer costs, with the official cash rate peaking at 4%, GDP contracting by 5.7%, and unemployment rising to 10.5%; and widespread credit rating downgrades and major corporate debt defaults occurring in the market. (3) Each bank will assess the impact of these scenarios on their capital over the next five years, with the aim of verifying their risk resilience and improving parent-subsidiary risk coordination mechanisms. The stress test results are expected to be released in November.

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Before the market opened on Thursday, ASX futures fell by nearly 0.9%, indicating that the S&P/ASX 200 Index would follow the trend of U.S. stock indexes. The Dow Jones Index declined by 1.2%, the S&P 500 Index fell by 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped by 0.9%. Prior to the ASX opening, Treasury Wine Estates announced it would integrate its California operations and divest some wineries as part of a plan to cut costs by 100 million AUD and rebalance supply.