NZ sharemarket treads water as US equities march up

The New Zealand sharemarket had a lacklustre day, unperturbed by the action offshore that saw computer software giant Microsoft join the elite US$3 trillion (NZ$4.9t) club.

Thursday, January 25th 2024, 6:21PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index traded flat for most of the day and then had a late rise to close at 11,889.63, up 33.02 points or 0.28%, after reaching an intraday low of 11,788.76.

There were 69 gainers and 57 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 27.78 million share transactions worth $98.81m.

Mark Lister, investment director with Craigs Investment Partners, said the local market is a little subdued and is not following the United States, which is hitting new highs.

“It’s the calm before the storm with our company reporting season kicking off next month. We will get real insights into how companies are faring with a swag of results – and then there will be more activity,” Lister said the local market would get an opportunity later in the year when interest rates start coming down, and investor sentiment turns to shares.

“But it’s a little early for that story. We have the first Reserve Bank speech of the year next week (from chief economist Paul Conway), and that will give an indication of where the back is at in terms of monetary policy decisions,” he said.

In the United States, Microsoft – gaining 0.92% to US$402.56 – has joined Apple in having a market capitalisation of more than US$3t. Microsoft has risen some 70% over the past 12 months.

Netflix surged 10.7% to US$544.87 after reporting an increase of 13m new subscribers in the fourth quarter, up 70% from a year ago, and revenue rose 12.5% to US$8.83 billion. Netflix now has a record 260.8 million paid subscribers.

The S&P 500 hit another record high, increasing 0.81% to 4868.55 points, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.36% to 15,481.92.

On the local market

At home, there were few major movements. Amongst the market leaders, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 25c to $23.73; Summerset Group gained 21c or 1.95% to $11; Ebos Group was up 35c to $37; and Infratil added 14c to $10.60.

Meridian gained 10c to $5.75 in the energy sector, and Mercury was up 5c to $6.54.

Sky TV was down 7c or 2.49% to $2.74; Third Age Health fell 8c or 5.33% to $1.42; Vulcan Steel declined 13c to $7.87; Allied Farmers decreased 2c or 2.3% to 85c; Ventia Services shed 6c to $3.40; and Foley Wines shed 4c or 3.42% to $1.13.

Freightways was up 10c to $8.48; Briscoe Group gained 10c or 2.22% to $4.60; Synlait improved 3c or 3.53% to 88c; NZME added 2c or 2.04% to $1; and NZX increased 3c or 2.86% to $1.08.

Cannasouth was up 1.9c or 14.84% to 14.7c, and Chatham Rock Phosphate increased 1.2c or 7.5% to 17.2c, having started the year at 9.1c.

Amongst interest rate-sensitive property stocks, Goodman Trust rose 6c or 2.75% to $2.24; Precinct gained 2.5c or 2.06% to $1.2; and Argosy improved 1.5c to $1.17.

Chorus, up 5c to $7.85, told the market that fibre connections grew 11,000 to 1.062m during the three months ending December, and average monthly data usage increased to 599GB, up from 585GB in the September quarter, close to the record levels achieved during the covid lockdowns.

Fast food operator Restaurant Brands gained 6c to $4.06 after telling the market that total sales for the three months ending December were up 2.7% to $341.1m and for the year $1.32b, up 6.7%.

NZ, with 147 KFC, Carl’s Jr and Taco Bell stores, was the best performer after fourth-quarter sales increased 8.3% to $151.4m. Australia, 84 stores, was up 2.4% to $78m, Hawaii down 1.3% to $66m and California declining 4.9% to $45.6m.

Frequency control manufacturer Rakon, up 1c to $1.28, has launched its next-generation MercuryX product range for AI and cloud data centres and telecom networks.

The product combines a semiconductor chip with quartz crystal resonators. Truscreen Group increased 0.003c or 13.64% to 2.5c after reporting a 40% increase in sales of cervical screening devices for the nine months ending December. Revenue was $1.46m, up 34%, and single disposable sensor sales exceeded the total of the last financial year, reaching 141,300 by the end of December.

Tags: Market Close