NZX 50 dips 10 points; Infratil climbs

New Zealand's headline share index dipped in concert with global markets which have generally been weaker over fears of monetary policy changes and a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Tuesday, February 15th 2022, 6:52PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 11.8 points, or 0.1%, to 11,938.32. Turnover was $154 million.

The head of equities at Harbour Asset Management, Craig Stent, said it had been a quiet day on the local market, with Infratil’s investor day the only significant update.

“Outside of that, there’s very little that happened today. The market’s just been taking a lead from the offshore markets overnight which were a little bit softer,” Stent said.

Infratil downgraded the top end of its earnings guidance at its investor day, citing the ongoing impact on its Wellington Airport and diagnostic imaging businesses.

The infrastructure investor now expects earnings to be between $500m and $520m for the year ending March 31, down from a top end of $530m.

Despite this, shares in the company rose 1.7% to $7.75 as investors ignored the downgrade and focused on the long-term opportunity.

One of Infratil’s portfolio companies, Longroad Energy, said it is shifting strategy to retain ownership of the renewable energy projects it develops and hopes to earn US$500m (NZ$754m) by 2026.

When Infratil and the Super Fund first invested in Longroad in 2016, the plan was for it to be primarily focused on developing renewable energy assets and then selling them.

Sky Network Television had the day’s biggest drop, falling 3.1% to $2.47 ahead of its earnings result later this month.

Software companies Serko and Vista Group also fell 2% each to $5.08 and $2.05, respectively.

Growth stocks appeared on the other side of the NZX board with Pacific Edge leading the index with a 2.9% gain at $1.08.

SkyCity was also up 2.8%, at $2.98, as it bounced back from a selloff after it reported weak earnings yesterday.

Trustpower shares dipped 0.1% to $7 after the power company cut its earnings outlook with a dry and still start to the year weighing on the firm’s generation.

The NZ dollar was little changed during trading on Tuesday with investors worried about the Russia/Ukraine crisis and poor local migration data.

The kiwi was trading at 66.22 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, down from 66.43 cents yesterday.

Tim Kelleher, head of institutional foreign exchange sales for the Commonwealth Bank New Zealand, said Stats NZ’s yearly migration statistics, released today, were holding back the currency.

NZ’s migration data showed New Zealand had a net loss of 4,000 migrants leaving the country during the full year ending Dec 31.

“It's a risk to the New Zealand economy that we lose our youngest and brightest offshore,” Kelleher told BusinessDesk.

Tags: Market Close