Market close: NZ market flat as RBNZ keeps OCR on hold

Comvita held its AGM today. Its share price was down 4 cents or 1.2 per cent to $3.20 by early evening. Photo / NZME

Neither New Zealand’s benchmark index nor economists were surprised by the fact there was no change to the official cash rate by the Reserve Bank today.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was flat at 11,235.05. Turnover was $108.1 million. There were 38 gainers and 85 decliners on the main board.

Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer with Octagon Asset Management, said the market had expected the non-move out of the RBNZ as most economists had predicted the central bank wouldn’t move the cash-rate dial before the election was over.

Robertshawe hadn’t been expecting the central bank to hike – although he had thought some weeks ago that the RBNZ might have raised the cash rate as New Zealand’s inflation hadn’t been falling away at the same pace as it had overseas.

But thanks to the bond market tightening in recent weeks – and tighter financial conditions without the RBNZ having to do anything – it had solidified his expectation of no cash rate change, which came true.

It’s not just pre-election jitters that are bleeding into the quiet market, the NZX released its shareholder metrics for September, which showed trading had also dipped over 25 per cent in the year to date.

On the company news front, honey company Comvita had its annual meeting and its chair Brett Hewlett said one of the “great challenges” for corporations was attracting and retaining talent.

The honey producer now has 559 global staff – or 630, if new staff from its recent acquisition, honey retailer HoneyWorld Singapore, were counted.

Comvita was down 4 cents or 1.2 per cent to $3.20 by early evening.

Westpac announced it had concluded the sales process for its Pacific banking businesses and would retain Westpac Fiji and Westpac Bank PNG Limited. The bank fell 2.5 per cent or 56 cents to $22.34.

Other gainers today were; tech company Rakon up 2 cents or 2.8 per cent to 74 cents, Scales Corp, climbing 6 cents or 2 per cent to $3.05 and Meridian Energy, up 7.5 cents or 1.5 per cent to $5.23.

Auckland International Airport was the stock that traded the most in value and was up 10 cents or 1.3 per cent to $7.86 by early evening.

Vista Group had the biggest fall on the index, down 10 cents or 6.6 per cent to $1.41, while medicinal cannabis company Cannasouth slumped 1.3 cents or 6.2 per cent to 19.7 cents. KMD Brands edged down 2 cents or 2.5 per cent to 79 cents.

The kiwi dollar was trading at 59.04 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, down from 59.38 on Tuesday. The trade-weighted index was at 70.40, from 70.69 on Tuesday.