Market close: New Zealand shares avoid Wall St wipeout

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.25 per cent to 33,202.81 points, while the S&P 500 declined 2.49 per cent to 3895.76. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand share market held its own in the face of a big fall on Wall Street – helped by the passive investment funds having to rebalance their local weightings in two indices.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell at the opening, then traded in a narrow range and had a late surge when the investment funds took over. The index finished flat at 11,603.66, up 1.672 points of 0.01 per cent.

Trading was extended to accommodate the rebalance of the NZX and FTSE Russell indices – with Heartland Group (down 1c to $1.84) moving into the FTSE Small Cap and Vulcan Steel (up 10c to $8.70) replacing Eroad (down 10c or 9.71 per cent to 93c) in the NZX top 50.

With the passive investment funds waiting to buy in the last 45 minutes of the matching session, volume surged to 96.51 million share transactions worth $392.49 million. There were 72 gainers and 64 decliners on the main board.

Paul Harrison, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said: “With what happened overnight in the United States, our market did reasonably well.

“At this time of the year we normally find the markets are quietly easing into the holiday season, but instead they won’t sit still.

“There’s something coming out at the corporate and central bank levels and investors are jumpy about any suggestion of bad news. And some are putting their toes into some stocks that have been sold off,” Harrison said. “I think our market is just choppy and directionless.”

A sharp fall in US retail sales – down 0.6 per cent in November instead of the expected 0.3 per cent – rattled investors who feared the Federal Reserve’s relentless interest-rate increases were tipping the economy into a recession.

The Fed said earlier that it will continue hiking rates through next year and projected its official rate will peak at a higher-than-expected 5.1 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.25 per cent to 33,202.81 points; S&P 500 declined 2.49 per cent to 3895.76; and Nasdaq Composite fell 3.23 per cent to 10,810.53 and down 30.7 per cent for the year.

At home, Ebos Group was down $1.05 or 2.4 per cent to $42.70; a2 Milk declined 30c or 4.1 per cent to $7.02; Ryman Healthcare decreased 19c or 3.17 per cent to $5.81; Fisher and Paykel Healthcare shed 96c or 4.17 per cent to $22.06; and Freightways was down 9c to $9.90.

Mainfreight collected $2.60 or 3.82 per cent to $70.60; Manawa Energy added 11c or 2.2 per cent to $5.10 and Auckland International Airport was up 6c to $8.11.

Fletcher Building, down 13c per or 2.61 per cent to $4.86, had a busy day with corporate news. Fletcher is proceeding with a new $275 million wood-panels plant in Taupo – superseding the particleboard production line – and is expected to be operating by the end of 2025.

Fletcher is buying Waipapa Pine and Renewable Wood Fuels, located in Whangārei and Kerikeri, for $97m and will expand production capability. Waipapa forecasts revenue of $50m and operating earnings (ebit) of $14.5m for this calendar year.

Fletcher is paying an additional $150m to finish the NZ International Convention Centre in Auckland as the complexity of the rebuild after the 2019 fire means costs are expected to exceed insurance proceeds. The centre is expected to be completed by early 2025 or sooner.

Channel Infrastructure declined 4c or 2.72 per cent to $1.43; Ventia Services shed 5c or 1.89 per cent to $2.60; Winton Land was down 10c or 5.46 per cent to $1.73 and Carbon Fund fell 20c or 8.33 per cent to $2.20.

Enprise Group increased 4c or 4.17 per cent to $1 after filing court proceedings against MYOB in Australia. Enprise is disputing retrospective reductions in margins its subsidiary Kilimanjaro Consulting receives on existing sales of MYOB Exo software.

Infratil, down 5c to $8.70, has taken a 73 per cent stake in new energy platform Mint Renewables with Commonwealth Superannuation Corp holding the remainder. Infratil is investing A$219m ($231m) over the next three to five years.

Scales Corp rebounded 20c or 5 per cent to $4.20; software firm Blackpearl Group was up 6c or 12 per cent to 56c, and Private Land and Property Fund gained 7.5c or 6.1 per cent to $1.305.

Sky TV, up 1c to $2.25, has secured the rights to deliver Formula 1 motor racing from next month. Spark, gaining 10c or 1.91 per cent to $5.34, has handed the majority of its sports content to TVNZ including New Zealand Cricket matches.

The Commerce Commission has filed court proceedings against NZME for selling magnet sets, deemed unsafe, when it owned GrabOne, which was sold in October last year. NZME, down 2c to $1.16, refunded all purchases and recalled the sets.