NZ markets lags before new key CPI data tomorrow

The New Zealand market ended the day in the red as cautious investors wait to see what the US consumer price index (CPI) data says about inflation tomorrow.

Thursday, October 13th 2022, 5:56PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 55.8 points, or 0.51%, to 10,817.23. Turnover was light at $88.6 million.

Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said NZ’s market remained mixed today as investors were waiting to see what the US CPI data revealed.

There was little corporate news on the market grapevine today, with volume traded on the lighter side as well.

Sullivan described the market as being in a “buyer's strike” as market volumes had reduced quite significantly, especially when looking at how much volume was changing hands compared to pre-covid-19 — or even in 2021.

He said investors weren’t in the mood to get out of certain stocks, but had decided to bide their time and wait for things to get better.

“That leads to a reduction in activity, reduction in volumes and just the gentle drifting that we're seeing in our market,” he told BusinessDesk.

Heartland Group Holdings, the owner of Heartland Bank, affirmed its net-profit guidance to the NZX this morning.

The bank told investors it expected net profit of between $109m to $114m for the year ending June 30, 2023 – excluding any impacts of fair value changes on equity investments held.

The shares were flat at $1.65 by early evening. Westpac rose 2.2% to $25.70 and ANZ Bank was up 1.3% to $28.10.

Napier Port told the NZ stock exchange (NZX) it had approved an on-market share buyback programme to buy up to 5% of its ordinary shares.

Napier Port said it “currently” intends that the purchase of shares to be limited to about 125,000 shares.

The port company also released its trade volume data for the fourth quarter and financial year ended Sept 30 yesterday afternoon.

Chief executive Todd Dawson said the company was satisfied with the financial year's total cargo volume of 5.5m tonnes, considering the “challenging operating environment” for its cargo customers.

“This represents our second-highest total volume result after the record volume of the prior year," he told the NZX in a statement.

Napier Port was down 1.4% to $2.78, and Port of Tauranga also fell 0.3% to $6.26.

Stocks that had a better day were NZ King Salmon Investments, which jumped 4.4% to 23.5 cents and Tourism Holdings, which was up 3.5% to $3.

Tourism Holdings told the market yesterday that it expects net profit to be above $30m for the current financial year thanks to a first quarter that exceeded expectations.

Auckland International Airport, along with Ebos Group, had the most value traded throughout the day. Auckland International Airport slipped down 0.3% to $7.135 and Ebos Group fell just 0.08% to $36.44.

Today, the NZ dollar was trading at 56.19 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up/down from 55.83 US cents on Tuesday.

CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said this morning that “a positive note” from the Federal Reserve’s minutes today revealed that some participants had signalled that “cautious steps” needed to be taken along the rapid rate hike path.

She said this offered hope that the Fed may soften its hawkish hiking tone.

Tags: Market Close