Market close: NZX plunges to follow US, Aussie markets

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Where the United States and Australian markets go, New Zealand follows – and for the close of the week that direction meant down, led by the heavyweight stocks Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and a2 Milk.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index plunged 230.74 points or 1.91 per cent to 11,824.31, nearly giving away all the gains of the previous two days. There were 115 decliners and only 28 gainers on the New Zealand market that traded 45.78 million shares worth $1765.68 million.

The NZX index fall followed a sell-off in the offshore markets, particularly in the rampant technology stocks in the US. Overnight, the American markets had their biggest one-day falls since June, spearheaded by profit-taking after weeks of record-setting rises and further concern about the United States-China relations. Investors moved money out of the technology stocks which could get hit the hardest from potential tariff increases.

At 5.45pm, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 189.2 points or 3.1 per cent to 5923.4.

Nigel Scott, investment adviser with Craigs Investment Partners, said the New Zealand market was taking a breather on light liquidity. "The market has been up eight out of the last 10 days, and nothing has really changed – interest rates are still low and people are focusing on earnings growth and dividend yield. Like all markets, it can't keep going straight up."

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare fell $1.96 or 5.41 per cent to $34.25 on trade worth $17.26m, and a2 Milk was down 52c or 2.77 per cent to $18.27 on trade worth $22m.

Mainfreight declined 80c to $47.10, but Auckland International Airport pushed ahead, rising 8.5c to $7.085. Fast food operator Restaurant Brands, up 29c or 2.41 per cent to $12.30, and SkyCity, up 8c or 3 per cent to $2.75, were other gainers.

Pushpay Holdings, which provides a donor management system to churches in the US, continued its slide, falling 28c or 3.47 per cent to $7.80. Scott said Pushpay might have been impacted by the sell-off in technology stocks there, though some directors have sold down their shares, just as six a2 staff members have done.

Others to lose ground were retirement village operator Summerset, down 25c or 2.85 per cent to $8.52; Synlait Milk falling 9c to $6.19; and energy stocks Meridian down 9.5c to $4.945 and Contact down 17c to $6.33.

Property for Industry, which has 93 industrial buildings and 140 tenants, called its interim result "resilient" and its share priced edged ahead 1.5c to $2.685. Revenue for the six months ending June fell 30 per cent from $72.38m to $50.45m and net profit was down 66 per cent from $46.4m to $15.64.

Property for Industry had an investment devaluation of $7.8m compared with a gain of $23.4m for the previous corresponding period, and it is paying a second quarter dividend of 1.8c a share on September 22.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 807.77 points or 2.78 per cent to 28,292.73 – back to where it started the year; the S&P 500 was down 3.5 per cent to 3455.06; and Nasdaq Index fell 4.96 per cent to 11,458.10, though it was still 28 per cent up for the year.

All the leading technology stocks were down – Apple 8 per cent to US$120.88; Microsoft 6.19 per cent to US$217.30; Amazon 4.63 per cent to US$3368; Facebook 3.76 per cent to US$291.12; Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. 5.12 per cent to US$1629.51 and Salesforce.com (CRM) 4.22 per cent to US$265.01. Electric vehicle maker Tesla also fell 9.02 per cent to US$407.