by BusinessDesk
The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell at the opening and never recovered, declining 41.35 points or 0.35% to 11,766.98.
The index was down 1.3% for the week and is flat for the year to date. The trading session was extended for the quarterly rebalance of the NZX and FTSE Russell indices.
There were 62 gainers and decliners over the whole market, and the quarterly rebalance boosted trading to 122.14 million share transactions worth $514.92m.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 0.68% to 7,660.9 points at 5.45pm NZ time, after earlier falling more than 1%.
Minister's comments
Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said it was a hectic day on the local market with many index changes. Some investment money was coming in because of the weakness.
He said finance minister Nicola Willis’ comments that economic growth was slower than expected had been anticipated by the market.
She suggested that Treasury might have to downgrade its gross domestic product forecasts when it releases its Budget Economic and Fiscal Update alongside the Budget on May 30.
Solly said the listed companies had positioned themselves for the economic slowdown with cost-out programmes and keeping debt levels under control.
“But the slowdown has weighed on the market and have we reached the bottom? We will have to wait and see.”
Market
Chorus, down 4c to $7.784, topped the individual trading list with 18.1m shares worth $141.88m changing hands after being removed from the FTSE Small Cap Index.
Heartland Group, falling 8c or 6.11% to $1.23 on trade worth $26.10m, and Synlait Milk, declining 5c or 6.76% to 69c, are also being removed from the FTSE index.
Spark, down-weighted in the NZX index, reached a five-month low after falling 6.5c to $4.90 on trade worth $65.80m, having sat at $4.88 on Oct 10 last year.
Meridian Energy was down 14.5c or 2.54% to $5.555; Mercury declined 18c or 2.63% to $6.67; and a2 Milk fell 22c or 3.43% to $6.20 after also having its weightings decreased.
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 51c or 2.1% to $23.80 after trimming its weighting.
“The changes are all marginal stuff and not too big,” said Solly.
Stocks experiencing increased weightings included Ebos Group, adding 50c to $37.60; Skellerup Holdings, up 12c or 2.94% to $4.20; Arvida Group, gaining 6c or 6.12% to $1.04; Oceania Healthcare rising 3c or 5% to 63c; and Investore increasing 5c or 4.55% to $1.15.
Rakon declined 5c or 3.91% to $1.23; Accordant Group decreased 2c or 2.56%; and Eroad was down 3c or 3.85% to 75c.
Briscoe Group declined 7c to $4.60; Move Logistics was down 2.5c or 4.81% to 49.5; and Cooks Coffee shed 2c or 9.09% to 20c.
Manuka honey producer Comvita reached a 16-year low after falling 10c or 4.17% to $2.30.
Auckland International Airport, up 9c to $8.24, reported a 27% increase in passenger volumes to 1.6m in February compared with the same month last year. International passengers rose 33% to 872,311 and domestic 20% to 726,949.
The airport said passengers on short-haul international routes increased 14% and long-haul was 59%.
Vital Healthcare Property Trust was up 4.5c or 2.09% to $2.20; Vista Group rose 9c or 5.11% to $1.85; Delegat Group gained 24c or 4.03% to $6.20; Gentrack increased 23c or 2.95% to $8.03; Vector added 10c or 2.62% to $3.92; and Property for Industry collected 4c or 1.78% to $2.29.
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