F&P Healthcare leads NZ market down after day of gains

An uncertain New Zealand sharemarket gave up all the gains made the day before, with heavyweight Fisher and Paykel Healthcare leading the way down.

Tuesday, July 25th 2023, 6:32PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index started falling at lunchtime and closed at 11,933.86, declining 84.36 points or 0.7% after increasing 0.65% the day before.

There were 46 gainers and 79 decliners on the main board, and trading was again light, with 18.45 million shares worth $68.07m changing hands.

The index failed to take any leads from positive markets offshore. The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average went up for the 11th successive day – the longest streak since February 2017.

The Dow increased 0.52% to 35,411.24 points, the highest level since February last year. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% to 4554.64 points, and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.19% to 14,058.87.

The US markets have experienced a stronger-than-expected corporate earnings season, but they are anxiously waiting for the Federal Reserve’s next move on interest rates this week, particularly chair Jerome Powell’s comment on the outlook for the economy.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.39% to 7334.7 points at 6pm NZ time.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the local market was very quiet, and there was some nervousness ahead of NZ’s earnings season next month.

“The market drifted back from an inflated close the previous day,” he said. “The resource stocks in Australia were having a strong day, encouraged by Chinese government comments that it would help the struggling property sector and increase consumer demand.”

Back in NZ

At home, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 44c or 1.79% to $24.08; Auckland International Airport retreated 14c to $8.23; Ebos Group declined 59c to $37.71; a2 Milk shed 7c to $5.48; and Spark decreased 5c to $5.055. Energy stocks fell with Mercury down 3.5c to $6.4515, and Meridian – now the biggest local stock on market capitalisation – declined 3c to $5.49.

Hallenstein Glasson fell 22c or 3.37% to $6.30; Michael Hill was down 2c or 2% to 98c; Skellerup Holdings declined 17c or 3.7% to $4.42; Radius Residential Care decreased 2c or 8.89% to 20.5c; and Third Age Health shed 4c or 2.99% to $1.30.

Other decliners were NZX falling 5c or 4.07% to $1.18; Rakon shedding 3c or 3.85% to 75c; MHM Automation giving up 2c or 2.33% to 84c; Ventia Services down 4c to $3.31; and AFT Pharmaceuticals decreasing 4c to $3.66.

Carbon Fund fell 9c or 5.52% to $1.54, with the market expecting Tuesday evening's government announcement on emissions trading scheme settings.

The strong run by 2 Cheap Cars stalled, declining 3c or 4.23% to 68c.

Freightways collected 7c to $8.64; Comvita was up 6c or 1.94% to $3.15; Kiwi Property gained 1.5c to 95.5c; and Winton Land rose 10c or 4.67% to $2.24.

Vulcan Steel rebounded 43c or 5.33% to $8.50; Oceania Healthcare was up 2c or 2.67% to 77c, ikeGPS gained 2c or 2.74% to 75c; Blackpearl Group increased 3c or 5.26% to 60c; and NZ Rural Land was up 2c or 2.22% to 92c.

British technology company nChain is taking a 19.99% holding in transport and logistics software firm TradeWindow for an $11.1m investment, representing 28m new shares at 0.3952c a share.

TradeWindow’s share price rose 7c or 23.33% to 37c. The deal includes a $2.4m cash payment by nChain, and $4.7m worth of services and software products to enhance TradeWindow’s global trade platform over the next two years. Also, nChain will become TradeWindow’s exclusive distribution partner in Britain and Scandinavia.

Barramundi fund, which invests in Australian shares, reported a 7.2% return in gross performance for the second quarter ending June, well ahead of the benchmark index’s 1.8% return. Adjusted net asset value was up 6.6%. Barramundi, down 1c to 71c, has now returned 16.1% in the year so far.

Kingfish fund, investing in NZ shares, had a second-quarter return of 2.3% in gross performance and an adjusted net asset value return of 1.9% compared with 3% from the NZX 50 gross index. Kingfish’s share price declined by 2c to $1.33.

Transport technology firm Eroad was unchanged at $1.44. It was reported that Volaris Group, owned by Toronto-listed Constellation Software, presently has no intention of increasing its takeover offer (at $1.30 a share), though it reserves the right to do so if there is a change of circumstances.

Former Eroad chief executive and shareholder Steven Newman has resumed his association, becoming the independent consultant to Eroad’s Technology Board committee.

Tags: Market Close