NZ stocks settle back into steady trading - Market close

The S&P/NZX 50 Index finished up 2.9 points or 0.02 per cent to 11,744.39.

The New Zealand sharemarket settled back into steady trading following the large volumes and sharp price movements the day before, which included index changes and the sale of an almost 15 per cent shareholding in Precinct Properties.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell at the opening despite the Nasdaq Composite reaching a record close in the United States. The NZX index was helped by a late rise and finished up 2.9 points or 0.02 per cent to 11,744.39 after reaching an intraday low of 11,683.4.

The index ended a hectic week ahead by 0.2 per cent and is down by the same amount for the year.

There were 70 gainers and 65 decliners on the main board with 36.16 million shares worth $115.86m changing hands, compared with $598.26m worth the day before.

The Nasdaq Composite, driven by the Magnificent 7 tech stocks, increased 0.9 per cent to an all-time high of 16,091.92 points, beating the previous record of 16,057.44 set in November 2021.

The S&P 500 gained 0.52 per cent to a new peak of 5096.27 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.12 per cent to 38,996.39.

The increases marked the fourth straight positive month for Wall Street and the Nasdaq rose 6.12 per cent in February, the S&P 500 was up 5.17 per cent, and the Dow Jones gained 2.22 per cent.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the local market normalised after the heavy trading. “The standouts were Meridian and Mercury reacting to an index change.”

Meridian increased its weighting in the MSCI Large Cap index and the day after was down 8c to $5.90. Mercury rose 19c or 2.84 per cent to $6.87.

The Warehouse, down 3c or 2.26 per cent to $1.30, and Oceania Healthcare, unchanged at 59c, both fell out of the MSCI Small Cap Index because trading in their shares was too illiquid.

Precinct Properties was up 1.5c to $1.18 after its big day. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s Haumi Co sold its 14.9 per cent stake, 237m shares at $1.10 a share (totalling more than $261m), and Accident Compensation Corp disclosed it had increased its shareholding in Precinct to 9.2 per cent, from 7.9 per cent.

Goodson said most of the New Zealand investment funds would have picked up some shares and Precinct will increase its weighting in the NZX index now that 100 per cent of its shares are available for trading.

Amongst other property stocks, Investore was up 3c or 2.8 per cent to $1.10, and Goodman Trust was down 5.5c or 2.46 per cent to $2.185.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare gained 22c to $24.72; Tourism Holdings increased 7c or 2.12 per cent to $3.37; Fletcher Building was up 9c or 2.2 per cent to $4.19; and Steel & Tube improved 2c or 1.82 per cent to $1.12.

Retirement village operator Summerset Group was down 5c to $11 after completing the $125m six-year bond offer carrying a 6.43 per cent interest rate. The bonds will be issued on March 8.

Ryman Healthcare declined 11c to $4.53; Arvida Group gave up 2c or 2.06 per cent to 95c; a2 Milk was down 8c to $6.12; Scales Corp shed 9c or 2.86 per cent to $3.06; Skellerup Holdings decreased 7c to $4.23; and Vulcan Steel fell 15c or 1.81 per cent to $8.15.

Vista Group was down 3c or 1.86 per cent to $1.58; Seeka declined 6c or 2.11 per cent to $2.79; Briscoe Group decreased 9c or 1.96 per cent to $4.51; ikeGPS shed 2.5c or 5.21 per cent to 45.5c; Move Logistics fell 5c or 9.09 per cent to 50c; and NZ Rural Land was down 3c or 3.23 per cent to 90c.

Used car dealer 2 Cheap Cars Group declined 3c or 3.66 per cent to 79c after downgrading its full-year net profit guidance from $6.8m to $6.3m-$6.5m because of higher-than-expected currency hedging losses with the NZ dollar strengthening against the Japanese yen.

NZ King Salmon Investments, unchanged at 29c, has gained final government approval to establish the Blue Endeavour open ocean farm in the Cook Strait – nine years after first applying for consent.

Farming the King Salmon chinook species in the open ocean will be a world-first and the site has the capacity to produce 10,000 metric tonnes and the potential to generate $300m in revenue a year.