by Paul McBeth
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index sank as US President Donald Trump’s latest threat against Iran kept bond yield elevated and sapped investors’ appetite for riskier assets such as stocks.
Meanwhile, fund managers sold power companies Mercury NZ and Meridian Energy to clear their books for Infratil’s sale of a 5% stake of Contact Energy at a discount, providing the infrastructure investor with some extra cash to put to work elsewhere.
Vista Group International posted its biggest daily gain in almost two years after signing Mexico’s biggest cinema chain to its cloud product, while Serko and Napier Port Holdings both rallied as their respective earnings came in ahead of expectations.
And Craigs Investment Partners has continued on the acquisition trail, picking up Christchurch stalwart Hamilton Hindin Greene for an undisclosed sum.
Red screens
The NZX50 dropped 213.29 points, or 1.6%, to 12,761.03, with 42 stocks declining, six gaining, one unchanged and Contact Energy in a trading halt. The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for June fell 1.8% to 7,240, with 530 lots traded for a value of $3.8 million.
Turnover across the main board was $130.1 million, of which Auckland International Airport accounted for almost $20 million as it fell 3.4% to $7.97
Mercury and Meridian came in for some relatively heavy trading, falling 3.5% to $6.91 and 1.9% to $5.79 respectively, as institutional investors sold down their power company holdings to take part in the $495 million block trade of Contact shares sold by Infratil.
The infrastructure investor sold 5% stake at $9.25 a share, a discount to Contact’s $9.98 price the shares were halted at. Infratil rose 0.2% to $15.29.
“It’s a classic Infratil move – they got the shares through the Manawa Energy deal and it’s not a long-term hold for them,” said Greg Smith, investment specialist at Generate Investment Management. “It’s not about Contact. It’s the capital allocation opportunities available in data centres and renewables to fund those.”
That came in a broadly softer day across Asia after US President Trump’s latest threat of an attack on Iran push bond yields higher on fears of the ensuing inflation. The yield on New Zealand’s 10-year government bond rose 5 basis points to 4.8%, while the kiwi dollar fell to 58.30 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 58.51 cents yesterday.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1.3% in late trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 0.5%.
Chipmaker Nvidia’s latest quarterly result on Wednesday in the US – Thursday morning NZ time – will be keenly anticipated given the recent surge in the artificial intelligence trade of late.
Retiring positions
Back to New Zealand, Summerset Group Holdings led the NZX50 lower, falling 5.5% to $7.09 after the latest ASB housing confidence survey showed price expectations remain muted. Oceania Healthcare fell 5.2% to 64 cents, while Ryman Healthcare declined 2% to $1.99.
Gentrack gave back some of yesterday’s gains, falling 5.4% to $4.02, and Tourism Holdings declined 4.7% to $2.05 after Grainne Trout announced her exit from the board at the end of the month, with Barbara Chapman appointed a director with immediate effect.
Argosy Property fell 3.3% to $1.035 after reporting a 6.5% increase in adjusted funds from operations. The landlord’s board changed the dividend policy to link returns to funds from operations as opposed to the AFFO measure, which it described as too volatile, and forecast the 2027 payment to be unchanged.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare dipped 0.5% to $33.50.
Vista posted the biggest gain on the day, jumped 14% to $2.27 after securing the Mexican operations of Cinepolis to its cloud product. The cinema analytics firm is holding its annual meeting on Thursday.
Serko climbed 3.9% to $1.45 after reporting a 34% increase in annual revenue, pipping Forsyth Barr’s forecasts, while Napier Port gained 3.1% to $3.70 after declaring a bigger interim dividend than expected.
Spark New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock on the day with a volume of 2.7 million as it fell 3% to $1.96, the lowest in more than a year.
Outside the benchmark index, NZ Rural Land Co fell 1.6% to 93.5 cents after reaffirming annual guidance for the June year at its annual meeting, while T&G Global nudged up 0.4% to $2.34 in thin trading, having held its AGM.
Bremworth was unchanged at 75 cents after David Ferrier and the Mangawhai Collective lifted their stake to 19% of the carpetmaker.
Meanwhile, stock market operator NZX dipped 0.7% to $1.34 with the latest round of consolidation among its market participants as Craigs agreed to buy Hamilton Hindin Greene.
Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.
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