NZ sharemarket down over 1%

The New Zealand sharemarket, with Mainfreight having one of its biggest single-day falls, was down 1% on the back of a big sell-off in the technology sector in the United States.

Thursday, July 25th 2024, 6:29PM

by BusinessDesk

After the early-morning decline, the S&P/NZX 50 Index traded steadily but then had a late fall and closed at 12,396.27, down 134.72 points or 1.08%.

There were 53 gainers and 84 decliners on the main board, with 57.82 million shares worth $152.08m changing hands.

Global markets

On Wall Street, the technology-driven Nasdaq Composite had its worst trading day since October 2022, falling 655 points or 3.64% to 17,342.41, and the S&P 500 its worst since December 2022, declining 2.31% to 5,427.13.

It ended the S&P 500’s best stretch without a 2% decline since the start of the global financial crisis in 2007. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 504 points or 1.25% to 39,853.87.

The technology stocks were led down by electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla after its fourth straight quarterly earnings miss – revenue was up 2% to US$25.5 billion (NZ$43.1b) but net income declined 45% to US$1.48b, 17% below analysts’ expectation.

The Magnificent Seven technology stocks certainly had an off day, with Tesla falling 12.33% to US$215.99; Nvidia 6.8% to US$114.25; Meta (Facebook) 5.61% to US$461.27; Alphabet (Google) 5.03% to US$174.37; Microsoft 3.59% to US$428.90; Amazon 2.99% to US$180.83; and Apple down 2.88% to US$218.54.

The July US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers (PMI) Index fell back into contraction territory for the first time since January, easing to 49.5 from the previous month’s 51.6, and the Services PMI survey surged to a 26-month high of 56 from the previous 55.3 and above the forecast of 54.4.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 1.16% to 7871.5 points at 6pm NZ time.

Greg Smith, head of retail with Devon Funds Management, said the sell-off in the US was a wake-up call around the one-way bet that is the technology sector.

“They have had some big wins this year, and there’s a lot riding on the results of the Magnificent Seven stocks."

Local markets

Global transport and logistics company Mainfreight fell $6.30 or 8.13% to $71.20 after providing shareholders at the annual meeting with a mixed trading update. Group revenue for the 15 weeks to July 14 was $1.478b, up 8.5%, and gross profit $83.16m, down 11.2%.

In its three business divisions, transport revenue increased 8.3% to $672.1m and gross profit 4.1% to $39.3m; warehousing revenue was up 3% to $233.4m and profit down 30% to $9.4m; air and ocean revenue climbed 11.2% to $573.3m and profit declined 19% to $34.5m.

Mainfreight said there was good momentum in Australia, which is expected to become the biggest profit earner, and “we continue to remain confident in the medium to long-term growth opportunities”.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 28c to $32.72; Fletcher Building declined 16c or 4.76% to $3.20; Infratil decreased 14c to $10.97; Ryman Healthcare eased 10c or 2.2% to $4.44; Summerset shed 17c to $11.08; and Auckland International Airport was down 14c or 1.82% to $7.57.

SkyCity declined 4c or 2.55% to $1.53; Gentrack was down 25c or 2.34% to $10.45; Serko decreased 15c or 3.95% to $3.65; Vista Group fell 9c or 3.67% to $2.36; and Argosy Property eased 2c or 1.82% to $1.08.

ANZ Banking Group was down 70c or 2.12% to $32.30 after telling the market it was cooperating fully with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigation into a bond deal made last year. The investigation is expected to take some months.

ANZ advised the Australian Office of Financial Management last August 2023 that it had submitted incorrect monthly secondary bond turnover data for the 2022-23 financial year.

Meridian Energy increased 17c or 2.61% to $6.69; Port of Tauranga gained 7c to $5.59; Napier Port collected to $2.48; Delegat Group was up 12c or 2.34% to $5.25; and ikeGPS added 3c or 5.26% to 60c.

Accordant Group gained 3c or 5.45% to 58c; Rakon improved 2c or 2.63% to 78c; Green Cross Health was up 3c or 3.45% to 90c; and Third Age Health increased 4c or 2.48% to $1.65.

Dual-listed Santana Minerals was down 3c or 2.29% to $1.28 on its first day of trading on the NZX after reaching an intraday high of $1.38. Santana, with A$32m (NZ$35.4m) cash, is developing the 292 sq km Bendigo-Ophir Gold project on privately owned farmland in Central Otago, 90km northwest of the Macraes gold mine.

Transport and logistics software firm TradeWindow rose 2.4c or 15.89% to 17.5c after reporting a record first quarter for the 2025 financial year, with trading increasing 17% to $1.8m compared with the same period last year. Annual recurring revenue is now $6.8m.

Tags: Market Close