NZ sharemarket edges higher as media company NZME lifts earnings guidance

The New Zealand sharemarket rose slightly on Wednesday after a strong lead-in from the United States markets.

Wednesday, October 29th 2025, 6:44PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.05% or 6.553 points to 13,409.21 after 30.7 million shares worth $123 million were traded.

The S&P/NZX 20 index was up 0.07%, closing at 7676.73 points, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,764.34 after rising 0.19%.

There were 72 gainers on the main board and 59 decliners.

'Treading water'

Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said the market was treading water on Wednesday.

“The index did follow in kind with US markets hitting record highs.

“The latter part of our session, we came back somewhat,” Sullivan said.

“Looking ahead, we’ve got a big couple of days for earnings in the US, as well as the Fed, so that’s probably going to be the main macro story for the markets.”

Five companies from the “magnificent seven” will report over the next day and a half, including Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Amazon and Apple.

NZME upbeat on ebitda

On the NZ sharemarket, NZME upgraded its financial forecasts and said its revenue was likely to be better than expected.

The media company told the NZX on Wednesday that it expected operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) for 2025 to be between $59m and $62m. That was up on earlier guidance of between $57m and $59m.

“NZME is heavily reliant on ad spend and has done a bit of cost-cutting as well. There’s some positive momentum into FY26 for them, midpoint of their upgrade at 12% year on year,” Sullivan said.

NZME’s share price rallied 6.67% or 7c to $1.12 after 900,674 shares changed hands on turnover worth $1m.

Elsewhere, market minnow New Talisman Gold Mines had its share price rally 16.98% to $0.06 after announcing it had signed an agreement for the offtake of gold concentrate.

However, the regulator swiftly applied a trading halt to the company after the update.

“They said their announcement wasn’t price sensitive, but their stock went up 17%. They said they were freezing it and were going to have a closer look at it. If the market thinks it’s price sensitive, it probably should have been.”

Other movers on Wednesday included Vista Group, which fell 3.91% or 11c to $2.70; a2 Milk, which rose 1.90% or 20c to $10.70; and Contact Energy, which fell 0.63% or 6c to $9.40.

US lead-in

Sullivan said the lead-in from the US was interesting, particularly because it featured the widest divergence ever of companies on the S&P 500 in a positive day.

“There were 102 that were positive, and 398 that were negative, and yet the market closed up. That’s the widest it’s ever been. Nvidia now makes up 8% of the S&P 500, the largest since General Motors in the 1970s.

“Now, when Nvidia moves, so does the market.”

Wall Street stocks rose to fresh records again on Tuesday (US time) as a jump in Nvidia shares added to bullishness over easing trade tensions and market-friendly central bank policy.

All three major US indices climbed to records for the third straight session, with artificial intelligence player Nvidia piling on about 5% as the chipmaker announced new ventures and CEO Jensen Huang headlined a company event in Washington.

US President Donald Trump is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday in South Korea – and rosy comments by Trump have fuelled optimism that the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, can strike a deal to ease their trade war.

– Additional reporting AFP

Tags: Market Close