Market close: NZX edges ahead

After being down for most of the day, the index went into positive territory on a late surge. Photo / File

The New Zealand sharemarket finished an eventful month on a steady note, though one of its leading stocks, a2 Milk, continued its slide.

The S&P/NZX50 Index edged ahead 5.19 points or 0.04 per cent to 11,747.28 after starting the month at 11,937.56 – all fall of 190 points. There were 60 gainers and 81 decliners over the whole market.

After being down for most of the day, the index went into positive territory on a late surge of trading, with 59.39 million shares worth $226.60 million changing hands.

Throughout September the local market set a rhythm of one day down and the next day up, affected by the topsy-turvy moves in the leading United States indices. Then a2 Milk made things more interesting by announcing an earnings downgrade for the first six months of its 2021 financial year and it took a three-day slide from $18.44.

The milk marketer fell another 50c or 3.16 per cent to $15.34 on trade worth $32.4m, but its supplier Synlait Milk recovered 7c to $5.48.

Nigel Scott, investment adviser with Craigs Investment Partners, said most of the selling in a2 Milk has occurred in Australia, where it is part of the S&P/ASX 50 Index. "The market has voted with its feet. There is a credibility issue with executives selling shares followed by the downgrade – that's the comments coming out of Australia where a2 is more liquid and more dominantly traded."

He said "we are coming to the end of a soggy month globally and markets have been repositioning themselves. That's what they do – and the New Zealand market has drifted off and consolidated with investors looking for dividend yield.

"There haven't been many winners this month, but one winner is Auckland International Airport. It was viewed as a quality but expensive stock pre-Covid and now the premium has come out of it. It's had a nice rise and people are looking out a couple of years – and don't forget Auckland Airport can also be regarded as a property stock," Scott said.

Auckland International Airport was up 5.5c to $7.285 after climbing from $4.63 on the market's low day of March 23.

Other gainers were EROAD, climbing 21c or 5.12 per cent to $4.31; The Warehouse, up 5c or 2.36 per cent to $2.17; utilities investor Infratil, increasing 4c to $4.99; Napier Port, gaining 5c to $3.55; and SkyCity climbing 9c or 3.11 per cent to $2.98.

The energy stocks had another good day, Meridian gaining 8.5c to $4.95, Mercury moving 7c to $5.10, Genesis increasing 3.5c to $2.935 and Contact up 2c to $6.65. Contact is starting work on the Tauhara geothermal power station near Taupo.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare fell 23c to $33.27, and Gentrack declined 6c or 4.62 per cent to $1.24.

Asset Plus shareholders have voted in favour of a $127.5m, six-level development for the Auckland Council on the North Shore and a $60.2m equity raise. The development increases the scale of Asset Plus' portfolio by $134.5m based on an as-if-complete valuation of $142m. Its share price slipped 1c to 31c.

Sky Network Television fell 0.4c or 2.74 per cent to 14.2c following a report that the South African Rugby Union was considering pulling out of Sanzaar. Sky TV fired out a statement that it continues to have the right to broadcast all premium rugby content, including the likes of the upcoming Bledisloe Cup and The Rugby Championship matches in New Zealand under the ongoing Sanzaar arrangements.