Shares flat as volatile prices settle

The New Zealand share market was flat as stock prices found a new level after a barrage of market moving news over the past 10 days.

Thursday, November 12th 2020, 6:53PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 4.99 points, or 0.04 percent, to a record 12,670.62. Within the index, 28 stocks rose, 18 fell and four were unchanged. Turnover was $193.3 million.

Financial markets have had sharp price movements in recent sessions driven by the prolonged US election, quickly followed by news of a viable vaccine and finally the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy statement yesterday.

The NZX 50 is up 5 percent since last Monday and the kiwi dollar has climbed 2.08 US cents, though a new covid case in the community pulled it lower this afternoon.

Today share prices still saw sizable moves as investors settled on new values for each stock, but the day was free of market moving headlines or economic data — although the new covid case may have introduced some caution.

“It has been a pretty hectic couple of weeks, and in some ways it's nice to take a breather,” said Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

“It is just a settling down period after the volatility we’ve seen over the last little while.”

While the index closed the day flat it was bookended by big moves in both directions.

Stock market operator NZX led the market higher, climbing 5.1 percent back to its record $1.84, followed by Sky Network Television which jumped 5 percent to 16.8 cents as it continued to rally on upgraded guidance.

On the other end of the board, Vista Group International dropped 4 percent to $1.67 in the day’s biggest fall as it gave back some of its vaccine bounce.

It wasn’t alone as the sugar rush of vaccine news began to wear off and hit travel stocks as well. Air New Zealand fell 2.7 percent to $1.60, Tourism Holdings declined 1.9 percent to $2.57 and Auckland International Airport slipped 1.2 percent to $7.60.

Serko bucked the trend, rising another 3.6 percent to $5.75 - just 3 cents below its all-time high - and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell another 1 percent to $32.70.

Mainfreight climbed 1.7 percent to $58.75, tracking higher after its half-year result yesterday.

Sanford declined 3.6 percent to $5.05 after it said it will not pay a final dividend following net profits tumbling by almost half to $22.4 million.

On the ASX, Kiwi-company Xero reported bottom line profit jumped to $34.5 million from $1.3 million in the previous first half. Its shares were up 0.3 percent at A$123.

The kiwi dollar briefly broke through the 69 US cents barrier before falling back to trade at 68.85 US cents at 5pm in Wellington, down from 68.90 cents yesterday.

After 5pm, the dollar dropped to 68.78 cents as health officials gave details of a new case of covid-19 community transmission in the Auckland CBD.

The infected woman called in sick after being told to self-isolate by the Ministry of Health but “after a conversation” with her manager went to work wearing a mask, officials said.

The New Zealand dollar was generally slightly higher against other currencies it is compared with.

The trade-weighted index was at 73.16 at 5pm, from 72.98 yesterday. The kiwi traded at 94.63 Australian cents from 94.21 cents, 72.48 yen from 72.42 yen, 58.47 euro cents from 58.25 cents, 52.10 British pence from 51.92 pence, and 4.5554 Chinese yuan from 4.5427 yuan.

Tags: Market Close