Another day of falling prices on the stock exchange

The lacklustre New Zealand sharemarket fell for the sixth successive trading day – the second time in a month.

Monday, March 18th 2024, 6:24PM

by BusinessDesk

After a down day on Wall Street, the S&P/NZX 50 Index fell sharply at the opening and had a late rise to close at 11,728.01, down 38.97 points or 0.33% after reaching an intraday low of 11,690.78.

There were 51 gainers and 94 decliners on the main board with 28.62 million shares worth $101.22m changing hands.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the index falling six days in a row sounds bad but is not a catastrophic pullback.

“There have been pretty small moves on light volumes.” The falls have ranged from 0.01% to 0.42%, while between Feb 8 and 15 the moves were bigger, ranging from minus 0.16% to minus 0.88%.

Goodson said some stocks corrected after rising in the index changes on Friday.

Vital Healthcare Property Trust was down 4.5c or 2.05% to $2.155; Investore decreased 3c or 2.61% to $1.12; and Vector declined 12c or 3.06% to $3.80.

The United States Federal Reserve, Australian Reserve Bank and Bank of England are meeting this week and are expected to keep interest rates unchanged. The hotter-than-expected inflation at the consumer and producer levels is expected to keep any US rate cuts in check for a little while longer. The Bank of Japan is expected to end its policy of negative interest rates and increase rates for the first time in 17 years because of strong wage growth. Goodson said any move by the bank will be closely watched by the markets as Japan has been a great source of liquidity. “If funding becomes less cheap, then the ability to buy yen and gear up in other yielding investments becomes more difficult.”

New Zealand's gross domestic product (GDP) data for the final quarter of last year will be released on Wednesday, indicating how the economy is travelling. Economists have a range of 0.1% growth to 0.2% contraction, and the latest number will dictate whether the country fell into a technical recession after the 0.3% fall in the September quarter.

On the local market

Heartland Group, down 6.11% on Friday, fell a further 6c or 4.88% to $1.17 after being removed from the FTSE Russell Small Cap Index.

Ebos Group declined 53c to $37.07; Mainfreight shed 94c to $67.50; Port of Tauranga fell 15c or 2.8 per cent to $5.20; Auckland International Airport decreased 8c to $8.16; and Freightways gave up 10c to $8.42.

Contact Energy declined 18c or 2.16% to $8.17 after reporting steady mass market electricity and gas sales of 252GWh in February. Electricity generated or acquired increased to 671GWh, up from 542GWh in February last year. South Island controlled hydro storage was 87% of mean and North Island 140% at March 10.

Meanwhile, Mercury was up 13c or 1.95% to $6.80; Meridian gained 4.5c to $5.60; and Genesis added 4c to $2.50.

SkyCity was down 4c or 2.06% to $1.90; Serko declined 7c or 1.86% to $3.70; Tourism Holdings shed 8c or 2.38% to $3.38; Tower decreased 1.5c or 2.13% to 69c; Stride Property slipped 4c or 3.03%; and Winton Land was down 5c to $2.21.

Recruitment group Accordant hit a 14-year low after falling 7c or 9.21% to 69c.

Gentrack rose 8c to a new high $8.11 and has now risen nearly 190% over the past 12 months. Gentrack was at $1.32 on September 27, 2022.

Retailer Briscoe Group rose 19c or 4.13% to $4.79 and Hallenstein Glasson gained 9c to $6.30 ahead of KMD Brands and The Warehouse half-year results, which are expected to be soft.

Vista Group was up 6c or 3.24% to $1.91; a2 Milk added 16c or 2.58% to $6.34; Seeka collected 10c or 3.64% to $2.85; and Green Cross Health gained 3c or 2.86% to $1.08.

NZ Windfarms, up 0.005c or 3.85% to 13.5c, told the market Warren Koia, its chief executive for nearly five years, has resigned and will be leaving in mid-June.

Truscreen Group, down 0.001c or 5%, has raised $2.6m through a share placement and shareholder rights offer.

Tags: Market Close