Blue-chip stocks knocked by growing inflation concerns

The malaise hitting global stock markets over potential inflation pressures weighed on New Zealand firms, with a slew of blue-chip stocks off the boil today.

Wednesday, May 12th 2021, 6:35PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 75.85 points, or 0.6% to 12,564.21. Across the wider market, 96 stocks of the 186 listed securities fell and 52 rose. Turnover on the NZX main board was $204 million.

The local market has been on the back foot in recent days due largely to A2 Milk’s latest earnings downgrade. The milk marketing firm appeared to find a base today, up 0.2% at $6.20.

Stocks across Asia were weaker, following Wall Street lower as investors weighed up whether rising fuel costs and a tighter US labour market will drive up consumer prices.

Blue-chip companies paced today’s decline on the local market, with Meridian Energy down 1.7% at $5.35, Fletcher Building down 2% at $7.25, Air NZ falling 0.9% at $1.65, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare falling 1.5% to $33.30.

“The market held up very well first thing and was slightly positive until the weight of this weakness in those offshore markets finally started to come through this afternoon,” said Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

Rubber goods manufacturer Skellerup led the day’s decline on the benchmark index, falling 4.3% to $4.45.

Chorus fell 2.5% to $6.35 after the Commerce Commission said it plans to keep regulating number portability, interconnection with a fixed public switched telephone network, and mobile co-location. Spark NZ slipped 0.1% to $4.54, and Infratil, which owns Vodafone, decreased 0.4% to $7.41.

Ryman Healthcare posted the day’s biggest gain on the NZX50, up 3.5% at $14.95, while Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units advanced 3.3% to $4.11. Fonterra’s farmer-owned shares climbed 7.7% to $4.05, narrowing the gap between the units and shares.

Pushpay rose 1.9% to $1.64 after the church payments software firm reported a near doubling of annual profit to US$31m.

The kiwi dollar slipped to 72.47 US cents at 3pm in Wellington from 72.62 cents yesterday, while the trade-weighted index was at 75.26 from 75.33.

The local currency traded at 92.75 Australian cents from 92.71 cents yesterday after the Australian federal budget provided more fiscal stimulus than expected. Analysts see an upside in the government’s fiscal forecasts due to the assumption for iron ore prices being well below current levels.

The kiwi traded at 4.6630 Chinese yuan from 4.6654 yuan yesterday, 78.88 yen from 79.07 yen, 59.72 euro cents from 59.83 cents, and 51.32 British pence from 51.44 pence.

Tags: Market Close