NZ sharemarket finishes flat, down 0.1%

The New Zealand sharemarket couldn’t sustain a strong lead from the rebounding United States markets and finished on a flat note, with Fonterra lowering its forecast milk payment.

Tuesday, November 25th 2025, 7:07PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached a high of 13,571.3 in the morning after the strong day on Wall Street, but slipped in the afternoon trading to close at 13,480.43, down 19.42 points or 0.14%.

There were 79 gainers and 60 decliners on the main board with 35.5 million shares worth $129.2m changing hands.

'Rebalancing of the MSCI indices'

Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer with Octagon Asset Management, said the US bounce-back was more about the market pricing in a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.

“There was some flow-through buying in the rebalancing of the MSCI indices. Not all of it was done the day before, and this index-driven demand dissipated in the afternoon,” he said.

In the US, the Nasdaq Composite had its biggest one-day advance since May 12, rising nearly 600 points or 2.69% to 22,872.01 after nearly falling into correction territory last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.44% to 46,448.27 points, and the S&P 500 increased 1.55% to 6,705.12.

Technology stocks tied to artificial intelligence again shone, with Google owner Alphabet Group increasing 6.28% to US$318.47 (NZ$568.71), Tesla climbing 6.82% to US$417.78, and Amazon gaining 2.53% to US$226.28.

Amazon announced a US$50 billion investment to expand high-performance computing and AI cloud infrastructure for US government agencies.

Local stocks

Back home, market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 61c to $36.70 after reaching an intraday high of $37.70 on the eve of reporting its latest half-year financial result.

Ebos Group decreased 55c or 1.9% to $28.39; Freightways was down 23c to $13.98; Fletcher Building declined 8c or 2.39% to $3.27; SkyCity eased 1.5c or 1.8% to 82c; Sanford shed 18c or 2.4% to $7.31; and Goodman Property Trust was down 4c or 1.97% to $1.99.

Gentrack gained a further 33c or 3.56% to $9.61 following its solid annual result, having risen nearly 22% in two trading days.

Infratil was up 22c or 1.9% to $11.78; a2 Milk added 13c to $10.85; Oceania Healthcare improved 2c or 2.47% to $0.83; and Rakon rose 7c or 8.86% to 86c.

Fonterra Co-operative, unchanged at $5.91, has reduced its mid-point 2025.26 forecast farmgate milk price to $9.50 per kgMS, from $10, following seven consecutive price drops in recent Global Dairy Trade auctions.

Fonterra said strong milk flows, here and overseas, have put downward pressure on global commodity prices. Fonterra has increased its 2025/26 forecast milk collections to 1545m KgMS, from 1525m.

Contact Energy, down 1c to $9.71, launched its Contact31 five-year growth strategy that includes an additional 250MW of geothermal generation, 500MW batteries and 500MW wind.

Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge declined 1.5c or 8.29% to 16.6c after reporting half-year revenue of $7.12m, down from $12.15m in the previous corresponding period, and an increased net loss of $19.2m, from $14.65.

Laboratory throughput for its Cxbladder tests was down 10.1% to 13,191 for the six months.

Operating revenue of $5.9m, from $10.9 million in the second half of the 2025 financial year, largely reflected the loss of Medicare coverage at the start of the period and the reduction in commercial test volumes

Pacific Edge said the company was positioning itself for a recovery led by a positive update in US Medicare funding. Medicare consultant Novitas is convening the contractor advisory committee on Feb 19, and Pacific Edge expects revenue to lift in the second half after taking claims through the Medicare Appeals Process

Genesis, down 3c to $2.45, earlier told the market it has decided to build the 238GWh Edgecumbe Solar Farm, with first generation expected in the second half of the 2027 financial year. The solar farm will have the capacity to power 29,800 homes.

Fellow energy stock Vector declined 9c or 1.84% to $4.81.

Trade Window, down 3c or 8.57% 32c, has completed a conditional institutional placement for $5.8m at 25c a share.

Metro Performance Glass, up 0.002c or 4.26% to 4.9c, earlier reported a 5% decline in revenue to $108.1m and a 157% rise in net profit to $2.87m for the six months ending September. Net debt was reduced from $60.5m to $27.4m.

Metro said the business now has a sustainable level of debt, commensurate with this stage of the economic cycle and for the business. “With the competitive pressure on our selling price, it has been crucial to fight for our market share with high service levels.”

Tags: Market Close