Market close: NZ shares fall further into bear territory

Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell a further 35c or 1.8 per cent to $19.10 after sitting at $33.78 on November 25. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand shares closed the eventful week of bear markets and mighty rate hikes with a strong afternoon recovery, and the leading index was down half a per cent despite another plunge on Wall Street.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell a further 57.38 points or 0.54 per cent to 10,589.19 after reaching an intraday low of 10,392.02.

The index ended the week down nearly 5 per cent and has fallen more than 22 per cent (excluding dividends) so far this year, inside bear market territory.

There were 107 decliners and 38 gainers on the main board, with 81.94 million shares worth $439.79 million changing hands because of the quarterly rebalancing of the NZX and FTSE Russell indices.

Ebos Group, up 4c to $39.14, dominated the flurry of trading with $101.15m worth of its shares changing hands. Spark, down 5c to $4.61, had trade worth $46.46m; Fisher and Paykel Healthcare $38.35m; and a2 Milk $37.87m.

After the biggest interest rate hike in 28 years, investors in the United States started fretting that the Federal Reserve's move to curb inflation will pull the economy into a recession, and stocks again plunged.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average went under the 30,000 points market for the first time since January last year, falling 2.42 per cent to 29,927.07. The S&P 500 was down 3.25 per cent to 3666.77 points and the Nasdaq Composite, down 31.95 per cent so far this year, fell 4.08 per cent to 10,646.10.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell further into bear market territory, 24 per cent and 34 per cent respectively from their all-time highs. The Dow Jones, having fallen in 11 of the last 12 weeks, is 19 per cent below its January 5 high of 36,799.65 points.

At home, companies that have fared well during the past two years and have solid, stable businesses were not being spared.

Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell a further 35c or 1.8 per cent to $19.10 after sitting at $33.78 on November 25. Freightways declined 10c to $9.28; and Skellerup Holdings shed 24c or 5.11 per cent to $4.46.

Mainfreight was trimmed $2.03 or 2.86 per cent to $68.96 after reaching $98.52 on September 1 last year; and Vulcan Steel was down 30c or 3.4 per cent to $8.52.

"Maybe investors are looking through the pandemic beneficiaries and recycling into the stocks that have been fundamentally over-sold," said Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene.

"There was some positivity in our market with bargain hunters coming in and value picking some beaten-down stocks."

The afternoon recovery was led by Genesis, rising 13c or 5.35 per cent to $2.56; Ryman Healthcare increasing 31c or 3.55 per cent to $9.05; a2 Milk gaining 6c to $4.57; and Infratil rising 24.5c or 3.23 per cent to $7.84.

Retailers Hallenstein Glasson gained 13c or 2.57 per cent to $5.19, and The Warehouse Group was up 8c or 2.41 per cent to $3.40.

Port of Tauranga picked up 11c to $6.24; PGG Wrightson increased 12c or 2.83 per cent to $4.36; Accordant Group recovered 5c or 3.13 per cent to $1.65; and Cannasouth gained 3c or 8.96 per cent to 36.5c.

In travel and tourism stocks, Auckland International Airport was down 8c to $7.11; Air New Zealand decreased 2c or 3.48 per cent to 55.5c; Tourism Holdings declined 18c or 7.14 per cent to $2.34; and Serko was up 16c or 4.64 per cent to $3.61.

Among energy stocks, Mercury declined 12c or 2.18 per cent to $5.38; Meridian was down 12c or 2.68 per cent to $4.36; and Manawa Energy was up 6c to $6.11.

The leading banks and the Fisher-managed investment funds were off the pace. ANZ Banking Group was down 44c or 1.83 per cent to $23.56 and Westpac Banking Corporation fell 70c or 3.21 per cent to $21.10.

The Kingfish fund (investing in local shares) fell 11c or 6.88 per cent to $1.49; Barramundi (Australia) was down 2c or 2.56 per cent to 76c; and Marlin Global declined 7c or 6.36 per cent to $1.03.

Other decliners were Sky Network Television, down 8c or 3.36 per cent to $2.30; Rakon falling 7c or 5.47 per cent to $1.21; and Napier Port shedding 5c cent to $2.82.

Arvida Group declined 6c or 4.05 per cent to $1.42; DGL Group decreased 19c or 6.55 per cent to $2.71; and Move Logistics shed 5c or 4.59 per cent to $1.04.