NZ sharemarket flat amid international turmoil

The New Zealand sharemarket opened the week on a flat note, and heavyweight Mainfreight was pegged back on profit-taking after a strong run.

Monday, July 15th 2024, 6:22PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index recovered from a morning fall to 12,043.18 and closed at 12,123.14, down 11.83 points or 0.10%.

There were 89 gainers and 52 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 39.01 million share transactions worth $92.26m.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the profit-taking in Mainfreight and Infratil weighed the market down, with Mainfreight having risen 11.5% last week.

Global transport and logistics company Mainfreight declined $2.75 or 3.57% to $74.20. Utilities investor Infratil was down 24c or 2.19% to $10.73, and Sullivan said: “Some investors took opportunistic profit-taking following the company’s share offer at $10.15 – but it wasn’t huge.”

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 broke through the 8,000 points mark for the first time and had risen 0.73% to a record high of 8017.8 at 6pm NZ time. The index has risen more than 5% this year and 12% over the past 12 months.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was back over 40,000 for the second time in two months after gaining 0.62% to 40,000.9 points over the weekend (NZ time).

Sullivan said the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump hasn’t affected the markets. The Volatility Index (VIX) initially lifted 10%, but it has since weakened.

At home, the latest housing data showed the seasonally adjusted REINZ House Price declined 0.3% in June, and sales fell 12.7% but are still up 2.8% on a three-month moving average.

ANZ Research said, “Headwinds to housing from the softening labour market could be blowing a little harder than expected. Today’s housing data can be added to the growing list of indicators suggesting the Reserve Bank has done enough.”

Sullivan said Wednesday’s June quarter consumer price index (CPI) will be a major piece in the Reserve Bank puzzle, and the market has priced in a 1% cut in the official cash rate (to 4.5%) by February.

The latest CPI is expected to show an annual inflation rate of 3.6%, down from 4%.

Local market

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 29c to $31.04; Ebos Group gained 42c to $34.40; Summerset added 19c or 1.84% to $10.50; Skellerup increased 9c or 2.1% to $4.37; and Serko was up 8c or 2.24% to $3.65.

Auckland International Airport was up 6c to $7.95 after reporting total passengers of 1.36m, down 4%, for June compared with the same month last year, though international passengers were up 6% to 744,784, with a load factor of 79%.

Domestic passenger traffic was down 4% to 6145,6670. The airport was now operating at 89% of pre-covid levels.

Turners Automotive was up 8c or 1.9% to $4.28; Colonial Motor added 20c or 3.03% to $6.80; Tourism Holdings improved 8c or 4.12% to $2.02; NZME gained 2c or 1.94% to $1.05; Winton Land increased 4c or 2.14% to $1.91.

Restaurant Brands rose 23c or 9.02% to $2.78; Eroad increased 6c or 4.84% to $1.20; Accordant Group added 1.5c or 3.45% to 45c; PGG Wrightson collected 8c or 3.86% to $2.15; and Cooks Coffee was up 2c or 10.26% to 21.5c.

In the energy sector, Contact was down 8c to $8.47; Mercury declined 11.5c to $6.78; and Meridian eased 6c to $6.52.

Manawa Energy was down 3c to $4.20 after reporting a 20% drop in hydro production to 423GWh in the first quarter of the 2025 financial year. Controlled hydro storage declined from 83% to 52% compared with the same period last year.

Gentrack decreased 18c to $10.50; Vulcan Steel declined 19c or 2.65% to $6.98; Third Age Health fell 5c or 3.33% to $1.45; Scales Corp shed 10c or 2.91% to $3.34; Move Logistics decreased 1c or 4.26% to 22.56c; and Rua Bioscience was down 0.008c or 10.96% to 6.5c.

Software firm ikeGPS, unchanged at 45c, reported that annual subscription revenue had risen 40% to $12.9m by the end of the first quarter.

Revenue in the quarter was up 4% to $5.8m compared with the same period last year. IkeGPS has $14m in cash and no debt.

Chatham Rock Phosphate, down 0.006c or 5.56% to 10.2c, has opened a share purchase plan of up to 100,000 new shares for existing shareholders at 10c a share. Chatham recently completed a private placement of 878,000 shares for $87,800 and has raised $1.7m over the past 12 months.

Promisia Healthcare, unchanged at 0.001c, is raising $3m-$4m through a share purchase plan and placement at 0.001c a share. The capital raise will fund the purchase of the Golden View and Ripponburn Lifestyle Villages in Cromwell.

Tags: Market Close