NZ’s market slumps on Wall Street worries

New Zealand’s market was down by more than 1% today following Wall Street having its worst day since June. The impact trickled into NZ’s market as soon as it opened this morning.

Tuesday, August 23rd 2022, 5:56PM

by BusinessDesk

CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said Wall Street had a broad-based selloff due to risk aversion ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium later this week.

The symposium is an annual meeting held by the Kansas City Federal Reserve and attended by central bankers, economists and policymakers from across the world.

At this year’s event, Federal Reserve officials may provide clues about the Fed’s future rate hike path and Teng said a jump in bond yields had suggested that a more aggressive interest rate increase in September might be on the table.

The S&P/NZX 50 index fell 120.7 points, or 1.03%, to 11,643.21. Turnover on the main board was $116.5 million.

Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said Wall Street had a “major influence” on NZ’s market today, as it fell by more than 1% by midday before clawing back some ground by the close.

Media company NZME reported its earnings for the six months ended June today, announcing it had boosted its profit by 37% as advertising revenue recovered to pre-covid levels, despite exceptionally weak consumer confidence.

The media company reported a net profit of $8.5m in its half-year period, up from $6.2m in the prior comparable period.

Jarden head of research Arie Dekker said in a note this morning that NZME continued to “meet expectations” but the company needed to continue providing confidence in its ability to lift digital revenues – especially from its OneRoof and digital subscriptions.

The firm’s shares were down 3.2% to $1.22 by the end of the day.

Aged-care facility company Summerset Group rose 0.4% to $11.59 after it released its half-year profits for the six months to June 30.

Summerset said its underlying profit for the six months to June 30 was $82.5m, up 9.2% on the year – but net profit of $134.6m was down 49% from the same period a year earlier.

Ryman Residential Healthcare was down 2.4% to $9.33 with Radius Residential Healthcare flat at 36 cents.

Spark to report

Telecommunications company Spark is reporting its full-year earnings tomorrow and the company was down 0.19% to $5.29 today.

Wholesale broadband provider Chorus, which reported its full-year result yesterday, was down 1.5% to $7.86.

Chorus’ board declared a final dividend of a 21 cents per share (cps) payout on Oct 11, taking the annual return to 35cps for the 2022 June year, up from 25cps a year earlier.

Heartland Bank released its full-year results to June 30 today, posting a record net profit of $95.1m.

The bank said it plans to undertake a $200m equity raise to help retire debt used to fund its recent Australian acquisition, as well as fund growth for its business.

The company’s shares were flat at $2.12 per share by the end of the day. Westpac fell 1.7% to $23.65 and ANZ Bank was also down 1.7% to $25.

Tomorrow, logistics firm Move Logistics and healthcare distributor and wholesaler Ebos Group are reporting full-year earnings.

Ebos was down 1.3% to $38.02, and Move Logistics was up 1.5% to $1.33.

Fellow logistics company Freightways was up 3.1% to $9.85.

Peter McIntyre said the Freightways had the “best performance” on the index today, helped by the firm revealing yesterday that it had acquired Australian courier business Allied Express for A$160m in cash and shares, alongside its full-year result.

Index heavyweight and medical device manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 2.5% to $19.95.

On the currency front, the NZ dollar was sitting at 61.90 US cents at 3pm today, down from 62.31 US cents yesterday.

Tags: Market Close