NZ sharemarket flat as Fed delivers mixed blessings for investors - Market close

Napier Port gained 7c or 3.07 per cent to $2.35. Photo / NZME

The New Zealand sharemarket finished a quiet day flat, with Tourism Holdings going into a trading halt to finalise an expected earnings downgrade.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed at 11,874.04, up 6.46 points or 0.05 per cent, after a mixed day on Wall Street following the latest Federal Reserve moves.

There were 59 gainers and 79 decliners over the whole market, with 33.1 million shares worth $98 million changing hands.

The US Federal Reserve kept its cash rate on hold and is slowing the pace of its quantitative tightening programme. The Fed said there had been a lack of further progress towards its 2 per cent inflation goal in recent months.

Greg Smith, head of retail with Devon Funds Management, said the main event, the Fed meeting, produced mixed blessings for investors. Chair Jerome Powell ruled out a possible hike in interest rates, and slowing quantitative tightening underscored the easing bias of the Fed, even if rate cuts are being pushed out.

The US major indices had a volatile day, at one stage being ahead more than 1 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.23 per cent to 37,903.29 points; S&P 500 was down 0.34 per cent to 5018.39; and Nasdaq Composite declined 0.33 per cent to 15,605.48.

Smith said in New Zealand the number of new homes consented fell 25 per cent to 35,236 in the year ending March. “We have seen housing and the construction sector slow and we are in a recession, adding to the prospect of a rate cut later this year.”

Tourism Holdings was down 2c to $2.85 before it went into the trading halt “to provide updated guidance to the market which is likely to be materially lower” than the existing one. Tourism Holdings said in February that net profit for the 2024 financial year is expected to be about $75m.

Smith said the downgrade is likely to be related to slowing vehicle sales in the United States. Tourism Holdings went through challenges during the Covid pandemic and has reduced its camper van fleet from 12,000 in 2019 to the present 7300 – a 38 per reduction.

ANZ Banking Group rose 87c or 2.84 per cent to $31.50 and Westpac increased 81c or 2.88 per cent to $28.91 after competitor National Australia Bank, owner of BNZ, reported half-year cash earnings of A$3.548 billion and net profit of A$3.494b.

Ebos Group increased 67c or 1.91 per cent to $35.67; Mercury Energy was up 16c or 2.52 per cent to $6.50; Mainfreight collected $1.64 or 2.42 per cent to $69.50; and NZ Rural Land increased 3c or 3.37 per cent to 92c.

Napier Port gained 7c or 3.07 per cent to $2.35; CDL Investments added 3.5c or 4.83 per cent to 76c; and KMD Brands improved 2c or 3.92 per cent to 53c.

Restaurant Brands, the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jnr and Taco Bell, declined 8c or 2.27 per cent to $3.44. Restaurant Brands earlier told the market that cost-of-living pressures continued to impact customer spending in all markets.

Skellerup was down 11c or 2.49 per cent to $4.31; Summerset shed 23c or 2.12 per cent to $10.60; a2 Milk declined 6c to $6.51; and Turners Automotive decreased 9c or 2.08 per cent to $4.24.

The Warehouse decreased 4c or 2.86 per cent to $1.36; Scales Corp was down 9c or 2.65 per cent to $3.30; Oceania Healthcare eased 2c or 3.45 per cent to 56c; and Move Logistics declined 2c or 4.76 per cent to 40c.

Synlait, down 1.5c or 3.06 per cent to 47.5c, has announced former Coca-Cola Amatil NZ managing director George Adams as chair to replace co-founder John Penno, who has stepped down from the board. Synlait’s share price has fallen nearly 71 per cent over the past 12 months.

AFT Pharmaceuticals, down 2c to $3, has licensed the intravenous Maxigesic IV pain relief medicine in Brazil – the 10th largest pharma market in the world.

Channel Infrastructure, down 2c to $1.53, is upgrading its infrastructure at the Marsden Point terminal after signing deals to store transmix before being exported. The upgrade will cost $12-15m in the 2024 financial year and is expected to generate $3m in revenue annually.

Delegat Group, declining 30c or 4.69 per cent to $6.10, told the market its harvest was down 24.7 per cent to 34,150 tonnes compared with last year, but the harvest delivered excellent quality grapes in Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay and Barossa Valley, Australia.

Fellow exporter Foley Wines declined 4c or 4.49 per cent to 85c.

Enprise Group, unchanged at 45.5c, told the market that revenue for the nine months increased 7 per cent, more than expected on the back of significant MYOB Advanced sales.