Stimulus hopes push kiwi up, but shares fall

Renewed optimism for fiscal stimulus in the United States being passed before the presidential election drove a rally in the kiwi dollar along with most other risk assets.

Wednesday, October 21st 2020, 6:21PM

by BusinessDesk

The New Zealand share market did not benefit from the boost, partly due to the stronger kiwi dollar weighing down some exporters and electricity companies slipping.

The kiwi dollar was trading at 66.08 US cents up from a low of 65.53 overnight and from 65.83 yesterday, as traders swapped the safe-haven US currency for higher risk assets.

The trade-weighted index was at 70.86 at 5pm, from 70.80 yesterday. The kiwi traded at at 93.34 Australian cents from 93.41, 69.60 yen from 69.47 yen, 55.78 euro cents from 55.90 cents, 50.91 British pence from 50.83 pence, and 4.3983 Chinese yuan from 4.3971 yuan.

The three key US equity indices each rose about half a percent on Tuesday night after President Trump indicated he was willing to approve Democratic lawmakers’ proposal for fiscal stimulus.

Asian markets mostly followed this lead, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.7 percent, but the local market declined.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 29.44 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,432.61. Within the index, 26 stocks fell, 17 rose, and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $163.7 million.

Grant Davies, an investment advisor at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the index’s decline was more about the ebb and flow of trading rather than as a result of sentiment.

“The New Zealand market did have a good day yesterday, relative to other markets. So maybe it is giving back some of that excess gain today,” he said.

Exporter Scales Corporation led the market lower, falling 2.9 percent to $5.04, perhaps discouraged by the stronger local currency –– although the fall was on light volume.

A2 Milk Company also declined 2 percent to $15.46, but Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 2.5 percent to $36.40.

The electricity sector continued to weigh on the NZX 50 as they retreated from a rally in recent weeks.

Meridian Energy fell 2.4 percent to $5.415, Trustpower dropped 1.8 percent to $7.55 and Mercury slipped 1.3 percent to $5.21.

Goodman Property Trust declined 2.8 percent to $2.41 after signalling its interim financial result will include a revaluation of around $140 million, adding roughly 10 cents per unit to net tangible assets.

“They are priced pretty aggressively, so there is potential that revaluation was not as strong as the market was expecting,” Davies said.

Vista Group International posted the day’s biggest gain, rising 2.6 percent to $1.61 after saying it was meeting its $3 million to $4 million monthly cash burn target and cost savings from recent restructure would continue in 2021.

Global logistics firm Mainfreight rose 1.2 percent to $54.50 after Jarden analysts today upgraded the company’s target price to $59 following a recent trading update which highlighted ongoing strength in New Zealand and Australia.

Tags: Market Close