Market close: NZX falls for second straight day, Harmoney's slow start

Ryman Healthcare fell 31c or 1.96 per cent to $15.51 a day before it reports its latest financial result. Photo / File

The leading stocks by capitalisation were again spiked as the New Zealand sharemarket fell for the second day running on steady trading.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was down 48.83 points or 0.39 per cent to 12, 557.13, with 51.8 million shares worth $164.96 million changing hands. There were 69 gainers and 74 decliners over the whole market of 182 stocks, the number increased by one with the listing of financial services firm Harmoney.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said it was a relatively quiet market driven down by the leaders. "The key thing you are seeing this month is a rise in bond yields out of the United States and a switch out of high-growth stocks into the more cyclical-type names."

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare fell 26c to $33.44; a2 Milk fell 28c or 1.89 per cent to $14.54; Auckland International Airport declined 6c to $7.72; and Ebos Group slipped 5c to $25.15.

The two leading energy stocks Contact was down 4c to $7.74 and Meridian fell 11c or 1.81 per cent to $5.97. The two stocks were driven higher recently by offshore buying as they joined the S&P Global Clean Energy Index, which fell 1.27 per cent overnight.

Ryman Healthcare fell 31c or 1.96 per cent to $15.51 a day before it reports its latest financial result. Goodson said it should be a tough result for them, but that's ancient history. The market will be looking at Ryman's outlook and it is a beneficiary of the housing bubble.

He said a2 Milk was conflicted by the market's long and short-term views after providing a trading update at its annual meeting. There were fears of a downgrade because of the daigou sales channel disruption but that didn't eventuate, and there are still fears about a2 Milk's performance in the second half of the financial year.

Summerset Group Holdings rose 17c to $10.75 after receiving consent from the Environment Court to build its $150m retirement village in Boulcott, Lower Hutt, with 155 independent living apartments and villas, 56 serviced apartments and a 30-bed care centre.

Other risers were Pushpay Holdings, increasing 10c to $7.29; Fletcher Building, gaining 8c to $5.51; Infratil climbing 8c to $5.60; Napier Port, recovering 4c to $3.58; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels up 6c or 3.06 per cent to $2.02; and SkyCity Entertainment climbing 6c or 1.99 per cent to $3.08.

Stride Property is buying the 16-level Grant Thornton House in downtown Wellington for $84.5m, with an initial yield of 6 per cent, and its share price increased 2c to $2.32.

Precinct Properties said it is committed to developing the Bowen Campus second building in Wellington with KPMG as a tenant. It is paying a first quarter dividend of 1.625c a share on December 10, and Precinct's share price remained unchanged at $1.765.

Australia and New Zealand personal lender Harmoney Corp debuted on the NZX and ASX exchanges after raising A$92.5m at A$3.50 ($3.69) a share in its initial public offer. Its share price on the New Zealand market was down 17.7c or 4.72 per cent to $3.57. Harmoney's major shareholders include Trade Me at 7.6 per cent, Heartland Group Holdings 8.44 per cent, Lookman Family Trust 8.98 per cent and Kirwood Capital 8.7 per cent.

The United States markets fell overnight, with investors unnerved by the rising Covid-19 cases which have hit 11.87 million and hospitalisations reaching record highs.

Pfizer and BioNTech will soon submit their coronavirus vaccine for FDA approval after releasing final late-stage trial data that was even stronger than the initial reading, but this didn't move investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.16 per cent to 29,438.42, the S&P 500 Index also fell the same amount to 3567.79 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.82 per cent to 11,801.60. Electric vehicle maker Tesla continued to stand out, rising 10.1 per cent to US$486.64 ($704.77).