NZX50 dips slightly as investors react to Fonterra

New Zealand’s main share index dipped slightly as investors continued to shun market heavyweights and decided Fonterra’s planned change to its capital structure will not work for them.

Friday, May 7th 2021, 6:18PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 40 points, or 0.17%, to 12,729.92. Market turnover was $125m with 63 stocks rising and 69 declining.

The biggest fall of the day came with investors passing their judgment on what Fonterra’s capital restructuring plans meant for them. Following a two-day trading halt, Fonterra's Shareholders’ Fund unit price fell by 6.52% or 30 cents this afternoon. It opened on $4.60 this morning (the last traded price as on Tuesday) and closed at $4.30.

A2 Milk declined for the second day, falling 1.68% to $7.59 with traders selling the stock down after a brief market revival which temporarily pushed the stock back above $8.

Another market heavyweight, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, remained moribund and was unchanged at $33.80 with investors and analysts still trying to work out what the future will bring.

Air New Zealand said its chief financial officer Jeff McDowall will leave to join Mediaworks as chief operating officer. Mediaworks is now run by another former Air NZ executive Cam Wallace. The highly regarded McDowall was to stay on until the national carrier completed its capital refinancing but this has been pushed out.

Air NZ share price was not moved by the news or the suspension of travel between NZ and Sydney due to covid and was unchanged at $1.68.

Z Energy shares continued their recent upwards trajectory lifting 2.18% to $2.81 after reporting a profit this week. Investors were seemly not deterred by Jarden analysts saying the results just met expectations and the 2022 financial year outlook was slightly disappointing.

Briscoe Group shares lifted slightly 0.35% to $5.66 with investors already factoring in first-quarter sales being up $173.1m compared with $97m in the same quarter last year. This reflected the fact the homewares and sporting goods stores were closed for 33 days in last year's first quarter.

Stewart Hamilton, the chief executive at New Zealand Aluminium Smelters, was appointed as the new general manager generation at listed energy company Mercury.

However, Mercury barely shifted to $6.88, a fall of 0.29%. Another major electricity player, Meridian Energy Limited, was down again today falling 2.38% to $5.33.

The New Zealand dollar traded within a narrow range, largely unmoved by any news. This included the government confirming its plans for industry-wide fair pay agreements to standardise pay and conditions.

The kiwi dollar was trading at 72.40 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, down from 72.28 cents yesterday.

The trade-weighted index was at 75.44 at 3pm, from 75.50 yesterday. The kiwi traded at 92.96 Australian cents from 93.20 cents, 79.00 yen from 79.03 yen, 60.01 euro cents from 60.18 cents, 52.07 British pence from 51.97 pence, and 4.6785 Chinese yuan from 4.6826 yuan.

Tags: Market Close