NZX50 continues its slow slide

The New Zealand sharemarket recorded its fourth fall in five trading days as the continuing rise in oil prices added fresh inflationary concerns.

Wednesday, September 6th 2023, 6:29PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index again slipped from lunchtime but had a late recovery to close at 11,427.66, down 9.58 points or 0.08%.

There were 67 gainers and 58 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 28.62 million share transactions worth $127.94m.

Brent crude oil exceeded US$90 (NZ$152.50) a barrel before settling at US$86.30, still the highest level since November and unnerving offshore markets. The price rose after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended voluntary cuts in production to the end of the year.

Long-term bond yields rose, and the US dollar hit a six-month high, with the kiwi weakening to US58.85c against the greenback.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.56% to 34,641.97 points; the S&P 500 declined 0.42% to 4496.83; and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.08% to 14,020.95.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 0.76% to 7259 points at 6pm NZ time.

Matt Goodson, manager director of Salt Funds Management, said the oil price rise “is a bit of a headwind. With NZ being a petroleum importer, it’s never good to negate the supply-side shock.

“Goods inflation is petering out, but services inflation remains sticky and high. The last thing we want is oil inflation to come along and impact goods and services. It means interest rates will stay higher longer if the oil price surge is sustained.”

Goodson said the local market continued to be weak, and the election was critical for its future direction.

“The earnings season wasn’t that great, and there’s been an array of forecast downgrades since then.

“Globally, you have seen a reasonable increase in bond yields, and an easing in central bank monetary policies will not be coming soon. It’s a tricky backdrop.”

Back in NZ

At home, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare shed 33c to $22.12; Fletcher Building was down 9c or 1.87% to $4.72; and Spark declined 6c to $4.93.

Auckland International Airport, up 3c to $8.13, topped the individual trading list with 4.94m shares worth $40.21m changing hands. The airport gained an increased weighting on the FTSE Russell Index following the Auckland council shares sale, making the stock more liquid for trading.

Meridian, up 1.4c to $5.235, Investore, unchanged at $1.27, and Vital Healthcare Property Trust, up 1.4c to $2.18, all went ex-dividend.

In the retirement village sector, Summerset Group was up 6c to $10.01; Arvida Group increased 3c or 2.48% to $1.24; Oceania Healthcare gained 1c to 76c; and Ryman Healthcare was down 5c to $6.54.

In the retail sector, Hallenstein Glasson gained 16c or 2.69% to $6.10; Briscoe Group was up 8c to $4.82; and Michael Hill was down 2c or 1.9% to $1.03.

Gentrack decreased 9c or 2.05% to $4.31; South Port NZ shed 13c to $7.47; Foley Wines was down 3c or 2.4% to $1.22; Solution Dynamics shed 5c or 2.94% to $1.65; and Move Logistics fell 5c or 7.25% to 64c.

Infratil was up 14c to $10.30; Sky TV gained 5c or 2.16% to $2.37; SkyCity Entertainment picked up 1c to $2.03; Skellerup Holdings gained 9c or 2.09% to $4.39; and Vector increased 6c to $3.92.

Sanford increased 10c or 2.57% to $3.99; Channel Infrastructure added 6c or 3.92% to $1.59; Smartpay Holdings rose 7c or 4.52% to $1.62; Scott Technology gained 6c or 1.91% to $3.20; and Cooks Coffee improved 0.006c or 3.09% to 20c.

There were no bids above the reserve price for 15m carbon units offered at the third quarter auction, and they will roll over to the December auction when a higher reserve will apply.

The current price of carbon units is $71 a tonne, and the Carbon Fund share price was up 1c to $1.84.

The latest NZX statistics showed total trades on the market in August fell 11.4% to 695,019, but the value traded was up 0.8% to $2.658 billion. The average on-market trade size was $2,196, an increase of 9.1%.

Total capital listed and raised was $1.835b, down 34.1%, and totalling $9.856b for the year to date. NZX’s share price was up 2c to $1.16.

Tags: Market Close