by BusinessDesk
The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached a lunchtime high of 11,823.12 points but slumped on the news of a strike on a military air base in central Iran.
The index was again saved by the now familiar rise in the end-of-day matching session and closed at 11,796.21, down 39.83 points or 0.34% – its fourth fall this week.
The index was down 1.13% for the week and is now 0.27% ahead for the year.
There were 95 decliners and 45 gainers over the whole market on volumes of 37.33 million share transactions worth $173.62m. Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, up 6c to $26.60, dominated the trading with $35.23m worth of shares changing hands.
'No hurry'
Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said it’s been a wild ride this week with geopolitics and the Middle East tension back in the forefront.
He said the markets were already softer on the realisation that interest rate cuts would come later than expected.
“US Federal Reserve officials have said they are in no hurry to reduce rates, and this has driven investor demand to safe-haven assets such as bonds.”
Solly said markets have been anxious about the Middle East situation for the last six weeks and anxious about interest rate levels for the past three months.
Gold has reached a high of US$2,382.61 (NZ$4,053.34) an ounce, while the US 10 Year Treasury Note yield has gone above 4.5%.
Around the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 1.06% to 7561.4 points at 5.45pm NZ time and had fallen 2.9% for the week.
The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index had declined 1.44% to 16,1509.14 points, and the Japanese Nikkei 225 had fallen 2.36% to 37,170.17.
Local market
At home, Auckland International Airport and Chorus hit five-and-a-half-month lows.
“They are both impacted by regulatory reviews at present,” Solly said.
The airport was down 14c or 1.75% to $7.85 (it was at $7.86 on Nov 6), and Chorus declined 14c or 1.9% to $7.24 ($7.39 on Nov 2).
Fletcher Building was down 6c to $3.86; Infratil declined 12c to $10.81; Manawa Energy eased 8c to $4.56; Comvita declined 5c or 2.38% to $2.05; Air NZ decreased 1.5c or 2.56% to 57c; and Gentrack shed 20c or 2.38% to $8.19 after coming off its high of $8.90 set on March 28.
In the banking sector, ANZ shed 86c or 2.73% to $30.64; Westpac declined 98c or 3.44% to $27.50; and Heartland Group was down 3c or 2.83% to $1.03.
Retailers Michael Hill fell 5c or 6.94% to 67c, and KMD Brands decreased 2c or 3.6% to 53c. Investore, which owns bulk retail buildings, declined 3c or 2.63% to $1.11.
Scott Technology was down 6c or 2.07% to $2.84; T&G Global eased 4c or 2.21% to $1.77; Move Logistics shed 1.5c or 3.19% to 45.5c; Foley Wines declined 3c or 3.19% to 91c; and Green Cross Health decreased 2c or 1.92% to $1.02.
Napier Port increased 6c or 2.62% to $2.35; Allied Farmers rose 6c or 8.57% to 76c; Sky TV gained 9c or 3.27% to $2.84; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ added 4c or 2.21% to $1.85; AFT Pharmaceuticals improved 8c or 2.61% to $3.14; and NZ Rural Land was up 2c or 2.17% to 94c.
Channel Infrastructure, unchanged at $1.51, reported a terminal throughput of 921m litres of fuel in the March quarter, 13% higher than the same period last year, driven by increased demand for aviation fuel, up 38%.
Decommissioning of the Marsden Point oil refinery has been completed, and the conversion costs to an import fuel terminal remain within the $220m budget.
Seeka was down 3c to $2.87 after launching its grower loyalty scheme by issuing a total of 2.4m shares. The scheme was approved at this week’s annual meeting.
| « NZ sharemarket continues decline | NZ sharemarket bounces back 0.5% on Middle East hopes » |
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