NZ sharemarket lifts as Skellerup update builds confidence
The New Zealand sharemarket closed up on Thursday, driven by the exchange’s largest companies and positive market updates from Skellerup and Vista Group.
Thursday, October 23rd 2025, 6:10PM
by BusinessDesk
The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.53% or 70.662 points to 13,377.10 after 43.6 million shares worth $146.8m were traded.
The S&P/NZX 20 index was up 0.43%, closing at 7673.63 points, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,761.47 after rising 0.58%.
There were 84 gainers and 61 decliners on the main board.
‘Mixed bag’
Craigs Investment Partners investment director Mark Lister said the market was up after a “mixed bag” of lead-ins from overseas.
“It does feel like markets have maybe just run into a few minor headwinds after a strong period,” Lister said.
“We’re certainly outperforming other markets in the region. Aussies are up, but much less than us. The Nikkei in Japan is down a little over 1%, obviously the S&P500 was off slightly off a little bit overnight, while the UK was one of the few markets to be up. So most international markets are off a little bit.”
Skellerup Holdings held its annual general meeting on Thursday, with the rubber manufacturer’s earnings lifting by 10% in the first quarter of 2026.
The business said demand for its products was robust and called out dairy and infrastructure as notable contributors.
“$55 million to $60 million midpoint is in line with where analysts were expecting. The stock is up because it’s a bit of confirmation that analysts weren’t off the mark.”
“You could have expected their guidance to be a little soft because of the tariff impact, but they’re managing to absorb that tariff hit and still making decent results, which is great to see.”
Skellerup’s share price lifted 1.36% or 7c to $5.20 after 144,980 shares changed hands on turnover worth $754,035.08.
Other stocks
Elsewhere, Vista Group gave a third-quarter update, advising that despite the box office experiencing some softness, year-on-year revenue growth continued. Vista Group’s share price rallied 7.03%, up 18c to $2.74.
Heartland Group lifted 3c to $1.09 after trading on high volume, with 1.7m shares changing hands on turnover worth $1.8m.
Scales Corporation lifted 2.88% or 17c to $6.07, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lifted 2.14% or 75c to $35.75, while Meridian Energy fell 0.84% or 5c to $5.93.
Lister said analysts and investors were keeping a close eye on the next 10 days, which will feature the latest data on US inflation, as well as results from five of the “magnificent seven”: Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta.
Gold prices sank further on Wednesday while major stock markets mostly fell following some disappointing corporate earnings amid lingering worries over trade tensions.
Major US indices fell, with the Dow retreating from a record the prior day, as lacklustre results from Netflix added to angst that upcoming reports from other tech giants may also fall short.
“Any time you’ve got stocks that are priced with high expectations, if you’re not meeting those expectations, then the market is going to struggle with that,” Dave Grecsek, a partner at wealth management firm Aspirant, said.
More broadly, the market is wondering if “we are overextended here in this artificial intelligence trade,” he added.
Most European equity indices also fell following declines in leading Asian markets earlier.
| « NZ stocks end lower while Eroad tanks | Sharemarket edges higher as F&P Healthcare weighs on gains » |
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