Fisher & Paykel Healthcare drives sharemarket up

The New Zealand sharemarket closed higher on Wednesday after a strong result from the market’s largest company, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, and the Reserve Bank of NZ’s cut to the official cash rate.

Wednesday, November 26th 2025, 7:04PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.61% or 81.576 points to 13,562.01 after 34.1 million shares worth $148.9m were traded.

The S&P/NZX 20 index was up 0.44%, closing at 7,753.80 points, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,945.31 after rising 0.91%.

There were 67 gainers on the main board and 73 decliners.

Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said it had been a strong day for the local market, with the gross index reaching a new all-time intraday high of 13,747.

“It’s given back a bit of ground, and that ground that we have given back has been post the Reserve Bank [RBNZ] update. The terminal rate was slightly higher than the market was anticipating, so we’ve seen the NZ/US dollar exchange rate tick up about 0.5%,” Sullivan said.

F&P Healthcare key

Key to the sharemarket’s rise was the half-year result from Fisher and Paykel Healthcare.

The company’s share price rallied 4.63% or $1.70 to $38.40 on turnover worth $44.2m after its result, in which it delivered an 18% increase in total revenue and a 39% increase in net profit.

The company also updated its full-year guidance, lifting its expected operating revenue to be in the range of about $2.17 billion to $2.27b.

“It was a fantastic result. Approximately $1b in revenue, lifting guidance, expanding margins, it’s a very good quality healthcare exporter in New Zealand and a clear global growth runway for them.”

OCR cut to 2.25%

RBNZ cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 2.25%.

Sullivan said it was as the market had expected, but he believed the chances of another rate cut in February had been reduced.

Elsewhere, Genesis Energy held its investor day on Wednesday, during which it announced more details on its Gen 35 strategy and confirmed that earnings growth is on track.

“I guess the key takeaway there is that it seems to be executing on its renewable strategy and maintaining a disciplined dividend framework, so sort of steady as she goes, really, for them,” said Sullivan.

Genesis’ share price lifted 0.41% or 1c to $2.46.

The OCR update provided a late boost to Channel Infrastructure’s share price, which rose 3.33% or 9c to $2.79 after 2.1m shares changed hands, with turnover of $6.1m.

Fletcher Building followed suit, lifting 1.53% or 5c to $3.32 on turnover worth $7.5m.

Meanwhile, Infratil’s share price fell on turnover worth $6.03m, losing 2.28% or 26.75c to close at $11.44.

Wall Street rises

Wall Street stocks shrugged off early weakness on Tuesday (US time) and joined European bourses in rising on continued hopes the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month.

The prospect of further interest rate easing helped offset lingering worries that artificial intelligence equities are overvalued, while a trove of mixed US economic reports included some worrying signs that analysts said likely strengthened the Fed’s case for cutting rates.

All three US indices advanced, led by the blue-chip Dow index, which climbed 1.4%. Earlier, London, Paris and Frankfurt all pushed higher.

Elsewhere, oil prices retreated amid reports that a deal to end the war in Ukraine may be close, which, if confirmed, would allow Russia to export vastly more oil.

– Additional reporting AFP

Tags: Market Close