by BusinessDesk
The S&P/NZX 50 Index battled gamely on light trading to close at 11,804.84, down 111.94 points or 0.94%.
The previous largest single-day fall was 1.07% on Nov 16. There were 104 decliners and just 35 gainers on the main board, with 21.04 million shares worth $80.22m changing hands.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 1.68% to 7,622.1 points at 6pm NZ time. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was down 1.64% to 16,328.74 points, and the Japanese Nikkei 225 had declined 1.81% to 38,522.37.
The sharp falls have come from increased volatility created by rising bond yields and worries over the Middle East conflict.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.65% to 37,735.11 points; the S&P 500 declined 1.2% to 5061.82 (down 2.66% over the last two trading days); and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.79% to 15,885.02 (down 3.41%).
The US 10 Year Treasury Note yield reached 4.616%, its highest level since mid-November, and the NZ 10 Year Government Bond yield increased 6.2 basis points to 4.848%.
The NZ dollar fell to a four-month low against the strengthening American greenback at US58.91c after trading at an intraday high of US59.1c.
Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said investment funds have had record exposures to US equities, and because of the increased volatility, the systematic cutting of risk budgets meant they needed to sell stocks.
“This ripples around the world, and we are a small sideshow because we don’t have the same high-beta growth stocks – the lower-risk stocks outperformed today.”
Goodson said there were no signs of panic selling in the local market, but “we are caught up in the offshore selling”.
Local market
Ebos Group was down 49c to $35.01; Fisher and Paykel Healthcare eased 23c to $26.40; a2 Milk fell 21c or 3.34% to $6.07; Fletcher Building declined 8c or 2.03% to $3.87; Chorus shed 22.5c or 2.99% to $7.305 and Skellerup decreased 10c or 2.33% to $4.20.
Hallenstein Glasson fell 39c or 6.5% to $5.61; KMD Brands was down 2c or 3.57% to 54c; Freightways shed 14c to $8.56; Arvida Group declined 4c or 3.54% to $12.09; and Seeka eased 6c or 2.01% to $2.92.
Auckland International Airport decreased 8.5c to $8.005 after reporting a 12% increase in total passengers to 1.69m in March, with international passengers climbing 22% to 894,616. The airport said international load factors were 81%, the same as last year, and capacity had increased by 24%.
Air NZ was down 1.5c or 2.4% to 59c; Manawa Energy declined 9c or 1.94% to $4.55; Sanford shed 13c 3.15% to $4; PGG Wrightson fell 14c or 6.76% to $1.93; Vulcan Steel eased 30c or 3.24% to $8.95; and NZX decreased 4c or 3.45% to $1.12.
Leading banks Westpac was down $1 or 3.48% to $27.70, and ANZ eased 62c or 1.97% to $30.89.
In the property sector, Investore declined 3c or 2.61% to $1.12; Argosy was down 2c or 1.74% to $1.13; and Kiwi shed 1.5c or 1.78% to 83c.
New listing Being AI was trimmed 2.3c or 21.3% to 8.5c.
Meridian, up 4c to $5.83, reported a 6.7% increase in retail sales volumes in March compared with the same month last year, and third-quarter volumes were up 8.2% at a 6.1% higher average price. Customer numbers increased by 2.2%.
Meridian’s national hydro storage lifted to 102%, from 93% of the historical average, in the month to April 15. Scott Technology, gaining 3c to $3, reported an 11% increase in revenue to $140.86m and a net profit of $4.46, down 43% for the six months ending February.
Scott is paying an interim dividend of 5c a share on May 15 and has $161m worth of forward work.
Other gainers were Tower, rising 3.5c or 4.77% to 76.5c; Delegat Group, up 14c or 2.13% to $6.70; and Green Cross Health, increasing 3c or 3% to $1.03.
| « Middle East conflict casts a shadow across markets | NZ sharemarket gains over 0.5% as inflation falls » |
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