NZ sharemarket continues momentum as Skellerup sees green
The New Zealand sharemarket maintained its positive momentum on Thursday as results from Skellerup, Auckland International Airport, and SkyCity Entertainment Group had mixed reactions from investors.
Thursday, August 21st 2025, 6:28PM
by BusinessDesk
On the main board, the S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.94% or 122.77 points, rising to 13,194.07, after 31.1 million shares worth $109.33m changed hands.
The S&P/NZX 20 index closed at 7,736.91 points, up 0.88%, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,917.39, rising 0.90%.
There were 87 gainers on the main board and 44 decliners.
Craigs Investment Partners investment director Mark Lister said the market has seen a much better set of earnings releases than it saw six months ago.
“The OCR [official cash rate] decision yesterday [Wednesday], the lower forecast track and the signal of more cuts has put a bit of a rocket under the New Zealand market,” Lister said.
“While the economy isn’t as far from firing on all cylinders, businesses are certainly in better spirits than they were.
“The reporting season is pointing to us having stabilised and passed the worst, and you’re actually seeing the odd good result come out.”
Skellerup boots it along
Skellerup’s full-year result saw its share price rally 6.38% or 30c to $5.00 after 380,365 shares changed hands on turnover worth $1.8m.
The Red Band gumboot maker said it had made $54.5m in profit after tax with earnings before interest and tax of $78m. Its profit was in line with expectations, falling in the middle of the $52m to $56m range flagged in July.
Lister said the business’s outlook statement was positive, pointing to an acceleration in revenue over the next one to three years.
Airport solid result
Auckland International Airport also reported its full-year results, with a “solid” net profit after tax up 12% to $310.4m.
Its share price fell 0.64% or 5c to $7.75 on turnover worth $11.7m.
Lister said the result was nothing of concern, but also didn’t have anything to get excited about.
“The result was largely in line with expectations, no real surprises. The outlook was maybe a little on the cautious side to 2026.”
“Guided to net profit after tax (npat) of $300m, give or take. I think markets we’re expecting north of $300m. They might still actually do better than they’re suggesting, but just a bit of a cautious commentary.”
The market's biggest stock, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, also gave guidance on its first half at its annual meeting.
The company’s outlook for the full year remains unchanged, with operating revenue in the range of approximately $2.15 billion to $2.25b and net profit in the range of roughly $390m to $440m.
“They’re clearly trading better than where people expected them to be at this point through the year. It wasn’t so much the guidance, it was more the ‘here’s how we’ve gone so far this financial year’ that they looked quite positive.”
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare’s share price rose 2.12% or 80c to $38.45 on turnover worth $10.8m.
US stocks
US stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday as the tech sector remained under pressure while investors kept an eye on retail earnings and weighed the prospect of US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
The broad-based S&P 500 Index slid 0.2% to 6395.78, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.7% to 21,172.86.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 44,938.31.
The tech pullback comes as markets reached a point where many stocks “were overbought,” after soaring to record highs in recent weeks, said Tim Urbanowicz of Innovator Capital Management.
“But we still view the long-term trend (as) intact,” he said.
Among major tech companies, Nvidia shares lost 0.1% while Advanced Micro Devices pulled back 0.8%. Broadcom fell 1.3%.
– Additional reporting AFP
| « NZ sharemarket rallies past 13,000 points after Reserve Bank rate cut | NZ stocks end weaker, but Fonterra rallies sharply after deal » |
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