Market close: NZ stocks feel Wall Street rumble in volatile week

The energy stocks were again weaker as Meridian, Contact, Mercury and Vector all declined. Photo / NZME

The New Zealand sharemarket ended a volatile week with a near 1 per cent fall as the prospect of more interest rate rises to combat inflation reared up and unsettled investors.

After another sell-off on Wall Street (the second this week), the S&P/NZX 50 Index fell sharply at the opening and closed at 11,727.04, down 99.11 points or 0.84 per cent.

The index was down 1.2 per cent for the week and is now only 1.9 per cent ahead for the year.

There were 98 decliners and 29 gainers over the whole market, with 22.5 million shares worth $116.29 million changing hands.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said there was a brief period in January when people thought inflation was coming down and markets rallied but that has all evaporated.

“The data points have shown the need for central banks to continue the fight against inflation and keep increasing rates. Macro-economics is dominating market trends,” he said.

Investors and analysts overnight were watching the latest United States non-farm payroll numbers. They expected 225,000 new jobs were created in February, down from the surprise 517,000 in January. This triggered fears of further rises in interest rates.

Solly said “if the payroll figure was higher than expected, then the Federal Reserve will need to continue raising rates to cool employment and wage pressures and slow the economy.”

Wall Street was rattled when Silicon Valley bank SVB Financial’s share price plunged 60 per cent after telling the market it is raising US$2.25 billion ($3.6b) to help offset losses on bond sales.

“There’s a little bit of a banking crisis in the technology space with SVB facing declining deposits from tech start-ups,” said Solly. The financial sector within the S&P 500 Index fell 4.1 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.66 per cent to 32,254.86; S&P 500 declined 1.85 per cent to 3918.32; and Nasdaq Composite shed 2.05 per cent to 11,338.35.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had plunged 2.41 per cent to 7134.7 points at 5.45pm NZ time. The dual-listed banks felt the Wall Street rumble with ANZ down 88c or 3.33 per cent to $25.52 and Westpac declining 65c or 2.7 per cent to $23.43 on the NZX.

The energy stocks were again weaker with Meridian down 8c to $5.175; Contact decreasing 8c to $7.50; Mercury declining 5c to $6.25; and Vector shedding 7c to $3.93.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 19c to $25.71; Ebos Group shed 34c to $45.41; Mainfreight declined 57c to $70.48; a2 Milk fell 18c or 2.47 per cent to $7.12; Synlait decreased 9c or 2.74 per cent to $3.20; and Port of Tauranga was down 13c or 2.08 per cent to $6.12.

Ryman Healthcare settled at $5.28, down 16c or 2.94 per cent, after completing its $902m capital raise after clearing the retail bookbuild of 25 million new shares at $5.25 a share. Ryman is repaying its US private placement loan.

Summerset Group declined 15c to $8.70; Chorus was down 11c to $8.05; Sky TV gave up 5c or 1.96 to $2.50; Serko shed 5c or 2.17 per cent to $2.25; NZME decreased 2c or 1.82 per cent to $1.08; and NZ Rural Land Co was down 2c or 2 per cent to 98c.

Among the property companies, Vital Healthcare Trust fell 7c or 2.95 per cent to $2.30; Kiwi decreased 21.5c or 2.73 per cent to 89c; Argosy declined 3c or 2.56 per cent to $1.14, and Precinct was down 2c to $1.26.

Retailers Michael Hill fell 4c or 3.67 per cent to $1.05, Hallenstein Glasson declined 9c or 1.7 per cent to $5.21; KMD Brands shed 2c or 1.89 per cent to $1.04; and Briscoe Group was down 4c to $4.75.

Auckland International Airport was up 7c to $8.61; Restaurant Brands gained 11c to $6.41; Ventia Services added 4c to $2.50; and South Port NZ collected 25c or 3.23 per cent to $8.

Hospitality group Savor rose 3c or 7.69 per cent to 42c; Carbon Fund was up 4c or 2.09 per cent to $1.57; and Cannasouth gained 2c or 7.14 per cent to 30c.

Chatham Rock Phosphate, unchanged at 22.5c, has signed a lease to establish the Korella distribution hub on a 22ha site at Cloncurry in Queensland.