Market close: Unpredictable sharemarket has another significant fall

Ryman Healthcare rose 10c to $12.45 as leading retirement village stocks found favour. Photo / NZME

First it was the property stocks and now the leading retirement village operators are having a rebound as the unpredictable New Zealand sharemarket had another significant fall.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fluctuated between an intraday low of 12,888.96 and 12,994.19 before closing at 12,929.59, down 64.59 points or 0.5 per cent.

There were 52 gainers and 88 decliners over the whole market, on strong volume of 65.78 million shares worth $238.15 million.

Ryman Healthcare rose 10c to $12.45 after reaching an intraday high of $12.69 and a low of $11.87 last week. Summerset Group Holdings gained a further 10c to $13.35 after hitting $12.68 on December 1.

Dan Stratful, investment adviser with Forsyth Barr, said like the property sector, the retirement village stocks have been over-sold.

"Ryman and Summerset are two high-quality companies and they are now entering a better environment for re-sales with the lockdown restrictions easing. Some villages weren't letting in visitors during the lockdown."

Stratful said the local market continues to follow movements offshore – the United States indices were quite weak overnight – and it struggles to sustain gains.

"Certain pockets have done well, and they are companies which can grow earnings. It just goes to show that earnings growth matters and the share price can grow as well," he said.

Into that category fall the likes of Mainfreight, up more than 54 per cent in the past 12 months; Ebos Group increasing nearly 44 per cent; Skellerup Holdings rising 85 per cent; and Freightways up 30 per cent.

Mainfreight, however, was down $2.30 per cent or 2.42 per cent to $92.69 in the latest trading day. Freightways declined 10c to $12.89; Skellerup decreased 6c to $6.15; and Ebos shed 5c to $38.25 on the day's heaviest individual trading with $20.96m worth of share changing hands.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare declined 20c to $32.80; a2 Milk was down 12c or 2.03 per cent to $5.80; Chorus declined 8c to $7.14; Sanford fell 22c or 4.15 per cent to $5.08; and Scott Technology was down 7c or 1.9 per cent to $3.61.

Amongst the retailers, Kathmandu Holdings declined 4c or 2.56 per cent to $1.52, while Hallenstein Glasson was up 5c to $7.08; Briscoe Group gained 6c to $6.75; and The Warehouse Group also increased 6c to $4.05.

Amongst the energy stocks, Contact was up 7c to $7.79, but Meridian fell 8c to $4.60; Genesis was down 55c to $2.905; Trustpower lost 8c to $7.29; and Vector declined 6c to $4.06.

Fonterra Shareholders' Fund declined 9c or 2.34 per cent to $3.75 – it fell as low as $3.60 during the day - after its chairman John Shewan suggested the fund should be wound up because it has run its course.

Travel and leisure stocks had a down day. SkyCity Entertainment fell 10c or 3.15 per cent to $3.07; Serko decreased 11c to $6.89; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand lost 5c or 2.13 per cent to $2.30; and Air New Zealand declined 2.5c to $1.56.

Air New Zealand told the market it had received an additional $500m, taking the Crown funding support to $2 billion, and the airline has used $505m so far. It expects to use a further $400m by early March. Air NZ is still planning a major capital raise in the first quarter of next year and the government will then be repaid.

Auckland International Airport gained 13c to $7.71; Fletcher Building increased 7c to $7.25; and Sky Network Television had another big rise, up 10c or 3.97 per cent to $2.62.

Delegat Group rose 25c to $14.65; Harmoney collected 4c or 2.11 per cent to $1.94; Third Age Health Services gained 5c to $2.86; and Vital Healthcare Property Trust was the biggest mover in the property sector, rising 6.5c or 2.1 per cent to $3.165.

Recent listings Vulcan Steel increased 9c to $9.37, and TradeWindow gained 5c or 2.87 per cent to $1.79.

Plexure Group increased 4.5c or 9.68 per cent to 51c after announcing it has completed its restructuring, resulting in 55 job losses and staff cost savings of $8m a year. Plexure is taking advantage of its recent merger with software firm TASK.

NZ Refining has closed its $5m share purchase plan at 83c a share to help fund private storage services at its Marsden Point fuel import terminal, and its share price was down 1c to 88c.

Property developer Winton Land has raised $350m in its initial public offer of 90m shares at an issue price of $388, and will list on the NZX and Australian ASX markets on Friday. Winton is presently developing 7442 residential lots and dwellings, apartments and retirement village units with $703m of gross pre-sales secured.