Market close: NZ sharemarket makes gain as Wall Street tumbles

Trading was very light in New Zealand yesterday. Photo / NZME

The two biggest stocks, Meridian and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, provided support to the New Zealand sharemarket while Wall Street tumbled on the latest round of interest rate hikes.

Meridian Energy was up 7c to $5.02 and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare increased 29c to $19.56 as the S&P/NZX 50 Index gained 19.37 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 11,518.32 after reaching an intraday low of 11,501.34.

With the Australian market closed because of the Queen's memorial public holiday, trading was very light. Only 16.61 million shares worth $56.5 million changed hands, and there were 48 gainers and 78 decliners on the main board.

The United States Federal Reserve's third successive 75 basis points hike lifted its official rate to a range of 3-3.25 per cent. The Fed warned that the rate would likely reach 4.4 per cent by the end of the year and peak at 4.6 per cent next year before inflation began falling.

Initially, the leading US indices were up, but in a volatile session they finished sharply down on the realisation that it will take longer to tame inflation and the Fed will remain aggressive.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.7 per cent to 30,183.78 points (down 16.94 per cent so far this year); the S&P 500 slipped 1.71 per cent to 3789.93 (down 20.48 per cent this year); and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.79 per cent to 11,220.19 (down 28.28 per cent this year).

"With Australia closed, our market was very quiet," said Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, "but we have held up well lately. If you look at Australia they are down 4.1 per cent this month to date and we've only fallen 0.6 per cent."

The NZ dollar slid again, trading at US58.27c against the American greenback, and is now at a 26-month low. The weakness is the result of a stronger US dollar, rather than anything else.

Spark gained 5c to $5.21; a2 Milk increased 9c to $6.28; Contact Energy improved 5c to $7.84; Genesis was up 5.4c or 1.87 per cent to $2.945; Pushpay Holdings rose 3c or 2.73 per cent to $1.13; and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels added 4c or 1.95 per cent to $2.09.

Air New Zealand was up 1c to 74c after reporting a significant increase in passengers carried – 1.09 million in August compared with 503,000 in the same month last year and just shy of the 1.29 million in August 2018.

Goodman Property Trust, up 1c to $2.25, is developing four new facilities for existing customers Mainfreight and Cotton On with net lettable space of 50,000sq m and a total project cost of $221.4m. Goodman now has a development pipeline worth $635.7m.

Freightways fell 54c or 5.09 per cent to $10.06 after having a late gain the day before; Mainfreight was down $1 to $70; Mercury Energy declined 9.5c to $6; and Vector shed 4c to $4.27.

Pacific Edge slipped 2c or 4.04 per cent to 47.5c after telling the market that its commercial agreement with Te Whatu Ora – Southern for the use of its non-invasive Cxbladder genomic biomarker tests remained unsigned. The business case is with management and then it will enter an approvals cycle.

Tourism Holdings, down 5c or 1.85 per cent to $2.65, has varied its merger arrangements with Australian Apollo & Leisure, saying it will own 72.5 per cent and Apollo shareholders will have 27.5 per cent – reflecting an increase in value of Apollo's Canadian properties. The final date of the merger agreement is December 9.

Fonterra Shareholders' Fund declined 3c to $3.40 after the dairy co-operative reported an 11 per cent increase in revenue to $23.42 billion and net profit of $583m, down 3 per cent, for the year ending July. Milk collection was down 4 per cent to 1.478 kgMS.

The final 2021-22 farmgate milk price of $9.30 per kgMS and a total dividend of 20c a share meant farmers will receive a payout of $9.50 a kg. Fonterra's 2022-23 milk price forecast is $9.25 per kgMS and earnings guidance is 45-60c a share.

Skellerup Holdings decreased 11c or 1.97 per cent to $5.48; Restaurant Brands declined 14c to $7.81; Seeka shed 10c or 2.47 per cent to $3.95; Hallenstein Glasson was down 10c or 1.86 per cent to $5.27; and Eroad fell 6c or 3.57 per cent to $1.62.

Other decliners were PGG Wrightson, down 14c or 3.08 per cent to $4.40; Bremworth decreasing 3c or 5.45 per cent to 52c; Rakon shedding 4c or 3.23 per cent to $1.20; Ventia Services down 6c or 1.95 per cent to $3.01; and Trade Window falling 3c or 4.48 per cent to 64c, after reaching a high of $2.80 on January 5.