Wall Street selloff casts shadow over NZ market

It was an abbreviated day of trading for New Zealand today, with the market shutting up shop in the early afternoon to little fanfare.

Friday, December 23rd 2022, 2:56PM

by BusinessDesk

MARKETS
Wall Street selloff casts shadow over NZ market
Ella Somers | Fri, 23 Dec 2022

There was a selloff in the US after surprisingly strong third-quarter GDP data. (Image: Getty)

It was an abbreviated day of trading for New Zealand today, with the market shutting up shop in the early afternoon to little fanfare.

CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said in a note this morning that the selloff on Wall Street continued overnight then leaked into NZ’s trading.

The US selloff followed “surprisingly stronger-than-expected” third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data.

Investors are now worried the US Federal Reserve will prolong its rate hiking cycle next year.

Today, the S&P/NZX 50 index fell 29 points, or 0.3%, to 11,494.96. Turnover was just $42.6 million.

Harbour Asset Management portfolio manager Shane Solly said NZ’s market missed out on its last chance of a Christmas rally today.

But the fact the market ended the day reasonably flat after such strong economic data out of the US was a “good outcome”, he added.

Utility and property stocks stood out today, trading on the most volume, Solly said. Meridian Energy was down 3.4% to $5.08 and Mercury NZ was up by 2.2% at $5.64.

Contact Energy edged down 0.3% to $7.88 while Genesis Energy fell 0.2% to $2.575.

Goodman Property Trust and Kiwi Property were just a couple of the property stocks that were down today and saw some of the larger turnovers in volume.

Goodman fell 1.5% to $2.05 and Kiwi Property was down 1.1% to 92 cents.

NZ company corporate news was almost non-existent today due to it being the last day of trading before Christmas.

Electricity and gas distribution company Vector got a formal warning from the Commerce Commission for its regulatory treatment of sale and leaseback transactions, in March 2020.

In October, Vector reversed its treatment of the transactions and the commission said it was satisfied that the reversal steps taken by Vector met its enforcement aims.

The situation came about because Vector’s approach to valuing those transactions was inconsistent with regulatory rules and resulted in a $300m regulatory asset base (RAB) revaluation, the commission said.

Vector fell 0.2% to $4.14 today.

Retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare was down 2% to $5.52 and healthcare products manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare flat at $22.05 per share.

Healthcare products wholesaler Ebos Group was unchanged at $43.

Meal kit company My Food Bag rose 3.9% to 40.5 cents on light trading. Fleet company Eroad, which has had a rough time on the index this year, also rose 2.2% to 95 cents.

The NZX's largest logistics company, Mainfreight, was down 0.4% to $67.50.

Courier firm Freightways dropped 4.9% to $9.51.

Today, the NZ dollar was trading at 62.53 US cents at 1pm in Wellington, down from 62.96 cents at 3pm yesterday.

Tags: Market Close