NZ sharemarket closes week down 0.38%

The New Zealand sharemarket ground out a small gain for the week, with three small-cap software firms gaining strength and consumer confidence slowly improving.

Friday, July 26th 2024, 6:29PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index had a rocky day, reaching an intraday high of 12,422.63 before closing at the day’s low of 12,349.47, a decline of 46.79 points or 0.38%.

The index was still 0.2% for the week. There were 82 gainers and 62 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 33.54 million share transactions worth $115.16m.

Mark Lister, investment director with Craigs Investment Partners, said given the volatility in the United States with the high-flying technology stocks selling off, the NZ market has put in a good performance.

“We have put together a string of nice gains – with increasing expectation that interest rate cuts are right on our doorstep.”

Lister said next week will be pivotal with the US Federal Reserve meeting. The market is looking for a rate cut in September, as well as quarterly earnings results from Magnificent Seven tech stocks and the ANZ Business Confidence survey.

The US economy expanded at a faster pace than expected in the second quarter, with annual growth of 2.8%, well above the forecast of 2% and the previous quarter’s 1.4%.

However, durable goods orders plunged to minus 6.6% compared with the forecast of plus 0.3%. It was the worst report since February, showing the elevated interest rates are starting to weigh on the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2% to 39,935.07 points; S&P 500 was down 0.51% to 5,399.22; and Nasdaq Composite declined 0.93% to 17,181.72.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had rebounded 0.74% to 7,919.7 points at 5.45pm NZ time.

At home, the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index increased 5 points to 87.9 in July, with perceptions of current personal financial situations rebounding 4 points to minus 18% and a net 20% expecting to be better off this time next year.

ANZ said confidence is still very low but has clawed back about half the March-April fall that coincided with "recession" headlines.

The lift was driven by improving expectations rather than the here and now. “The Kiwi consumer clearly remains in a very cautious mood, with unemployment rising and the cost of living still biting … there’s a hint in this month’s survey that consumers are perhaps starting to feel a little optimism that the worst will soon be past.”

On the technology front, transport and logistics software firm TradeWindow, with 515 exporting and importing customers, gained 1.9c or 10.86% to 19.4c after telling the market it is on track to deliver within its full-year guidance of $7.3m-$8.3m.

Power-pole monitoring company ikeGPS continued its strong run, rising 14c or 23.3% to 74c after announcing a new contract worth $19m over 36 months that supports the delivery of a fibre and grid resiliency programme in southwestern United States. Its share price has climbed from 43c on May 27.

A third software firm, Blackpearl Group, which powers AI-driven marketing solutions, increased 4c or 5.56% to 76c.

Mainfreight was up 80c to $72 after falling 8.13% after the mixed trading update given at its annual meeting the day before.

Fletcher Building rose 12c or 3.75% to $3.32; Manawa Energy was up 15c or 3.48% to $4.46; Heartland Group gained 2c or 1.85% to $1.10; and SkyCity added 4c or 2.61% to $1.57.

Rakon increased 3c or 3.85% to 81c; AFT Pharmaceuticals was up 9c 3% to $3.09; Move Logistics, a beaten-down stock, recovered 4c or 15.38% to 30c; and Foley Wines gained 3c or 3.9% to 80c.

In the property sector, Kiwi was up 2c or 2.3% to 89c; Property for Industry gained 4c or 1.81% to $2.25; and Argosy decreased 2c or 1.85% to $1.06.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 50c to $32.22; Meridian Energy declined 16c or 2.39% to $6.53; Restaurant Brands fell 20c or 6.06% to $3.10; Air NZ shed 2c or 3.33% to 58c; Scales Corp decreased 12c or 3.41% to $3.40; and Sky TV was down 5c or 1.85% to $2.65.

Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge increased 0.008c or 9.3% to 9.4c after updating the market on its application for continued US Medicare reimbursement for its Cxbladder tests.

After a year, Pacific Edge has yet to be told the decision by Medicare contractor Novitas but said it expects the local coverage determination to be finalised at an as-yet unknown timeframe.

South Port NZ was up 14c or 2.45% to $5.85 after upgrading its full-year earnings guidance to $8.3m-$9m, up from $7.3m-$8m, because of higher bulk and container cargo volumes in the last quarter.

Tags: Market Close