NZ sharemarket: 'more falls than rises' as Auckland airport dominates trading

Auckland International Airport again dominated trading on the New Zealand sharemarket as passive investment funds were forced to buy the stock to rebalance their portfolios.

Monday, December 9th 2024, 6:37PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index had a rocky day, trading between a low of 12,758.88 and a high of 12,880.32 before closing at 12,801.8, down 7.79 points or 0.06%.

Auckland International Airport, hitting a 10-month high after gaining 22c or 2.71% to $8.34, had 32.85 million shares worth $274.66m changing hands amongst total volumes of 73.88m transactions worth $443.16m.

'More falls than rises'

Matt Goodson, managing director with Salt Funds Management, said the airport’s weighting on the NZX, ASX, MSCI and FTSE indices was increased following the sale of Auckland Council’s strategic shareholding.

The passive funds that track those indices had to bid for airport stock now that it has a 100% free float of shares.

“The airport and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare were doing all the heavy lifting today, and overall, there were more falls than rises on the market.”

In the United States, the market is still expecting a 25-basis points reduction in interest rates next week after 227,000 non-farm jobs were created in November – ahead of the forecast 214,00 – and unemployment increased slightly to an expected 4.2%.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit new peaks at the weekend (NZ time) after rising 0.25% to 6,090.27 points and 0.81% to 19,859.77, respectively.

Before the US Federal Reserve meets, the Bank of Canada, the European Central Bank and the Reserve Bank of Australia will have made their latest decisions on interest rates.

Local market

At home, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 43c to $37. ResMed, its rival across the Tasman, had gained 2.26% to A$38.04 at 6pm NZ time.

Contact Energy increased 24c or 2.83% to $8.71; T&G Global rose 8c or 5.41% to $1.56; and small caps AoFrio and Metro Performance Glass added 0.006c or 6.12% to 9.2c and 0.005c or 9.62% to 5.7c, respectively.

Spark, unchanged at $2.88, has been removed from the S&P/ASX 200 Index in Australia following the December quarterly review.

Manuka honey producer Comvita declined 4c or 4.76% to 80c after telling the market that an independent accounting firm has found irregularities with the reporting of sales and accounts receivables in its China subsidiary for the 2023 and 2024 financial years.

Comvita said the irregularities have likely resulted in the overstatement of post-tax earnings by $1m in each of the financial years. The review is ongoing.

Comvita’s share price has fallen more than 66% in the past 12 months, making it one of the worst-performing stocks on the NZX. The stock reached a high of $11.71 in May 2016 and a low of 70c in April 2009.

Goodson said Comvita is a company under pressure with falling China demand and the reporting irregularity “is the last thing they needed. With far-flung operations, you have to have sufficient controls in place – and at least they found it.”

Retailers Briscoe Group was down 12c or 2.18% to $5.38; Hallenstein Glasson decreased 11c to $7.03; and Michael Hill declined 2c or 3.08% to 63c.

Wine exporters Delegat Group declined 21c or 4.17% to $4.83, and Foley Wines decreased 3c or 4.29% to 67c.

Meridian Energy declined 11c or 1.88% to $5.75; Fletcher Building shed 9c or 3.08% to $2.83; Gentrack was down 44c or 3.17% to $13.45; Skellerup eased 15c or 2.91% to $5; and Ebos Group decreased 45c to $36.80.

Other decliners were Smartpay, down 2.5c or 3.76% to 64c; AFT Pharmaceuticals, decreasing 7c or 2.48% to $2.75; Green Cross Health, falling 5c or 5.81% to 81c; Vulcan Steel, shedding 20c or 2.53% to $7.70; and Oceania Healthcare down 4c or 5.33% to 71c.

Sky TV, down 6c or 2.14% to $2.44, put out a message that negotiations with New Zealand Rugby Commercial for the renewal of broadcasting rights from 2026 were ongoing and confidential. Sky’s policy is not to comment on media speculation.

ANZ Group declined $1.28 or 3.73% to $33.02, and Westpac was down 70c or 1.92% to $35.80.

ANZ announced the appointment of Nuno Matos as the new chief executive from early July next year, replacing Shayne Elliott who is retiring after nine years in the role.

Matos, with more than 30 years’ experience in retail, commercial and wholesale banking, has been the chief executive of Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC and responsible for 87,000 staff serving 40m customers in 35 markets.

TradeWindow, down 1c or 4.76% to 20c, told the market that its chief executive AJ Smith has delayed settlement of the second tranche of shares he subscribed for. Smith has settled $122,000 of the $328,000 due and has advised he will pay $133,000 by Dec 21 and the remaining balance by March 31.

Tags: Market Close