Manawa Energy led NZ market lower after disappointing earnings

Manawa Energy’s earnings disappointed investors, taking the New Zealand benchmark index into negative territory late in the day.

Wednesday, November 9th 2022, 6:02PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 index decreased 8.4 points, or 0.08%, to 11,143.480 points.

Across the main board, 80 shares rose and 56 fell. Turnover was $118.9 million.

Manawa Energy led the top 50 lower, down 8.6% to $5.16, after it reported operating earnings (Ebitdaf) from continuing operations of $70 million in the six months to Sept 30, down 34% from the previous period.

Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Grant Davies said the company had disappointed the market with its result.

Property and aged-care stocks were also down throughout the day after suffering over the past 12 months as interest rates increased.

Oceania Healthcare ended the day down 2.5% to 78c, and Summerset Group declined 2.2% to $9.78.

Argosy Property ended the day down 2% to $1.17. Stride Property was down 1.9% to $1.55.

Ryman Healthcare was also down to 1.7% to $8.

Other decliners included Vista Group International, down 3.9% to $1.48, and Meridian Energy, down 3.4% to $4.54.

It was a late turn in the day, with the top 50 spending most of the day in the green, at one point up over 0.5%, and only dipping into the negative with less than 15 minutes of trading to go.

Davies said NZ’s market had followed the United States’ market strong lead overnight.

The Nasdaq Composite finished its session up 51.68 points, or 0.49%, with the S&P 500 up 21.31 points, or 0.56%. “When they do well, we tend to follow suit,” he said.

Back home, the top 50 was led higher by Pacific Edge, up 2.3% to 43c.

Other healthcare companies were also following upwards. TruScreen Group led the entire main board, up nearly 7% to 46c, and Blis Technologies also rose, up 3.5% to 3c.

Meanwhile, courier company Freightways, which is often seen as a bellwether for the New Zealand economy, was up 1.5% to $9.90.

That was after Statistics NZ said today card spending had risen 1% in October, driven by spending on durable items such as furniture, hardware, and appliances.

Hospitality helped drive a 20% increase in yearly card spending.

Restaurant Brands was up 1.5% to $7.13.

A2 Milk continued its rally, up 0.6% to $6.28, after it announced a share buyback yesterday.

Davies said the US’s October consumer price index out later this week would be closely watched as an indicator of whether inflation was starting to decline or not.

The NZ dollar was relatively unmoved by the country’s midterm elections, trading at 59.45 US cents at 5.30pm in Wellington, compared to 59.46c at 8:30am today and 59.3c at 5.30pm yesterday.

Tags: Market Close