Revival in retail stocks but sharemarket dips - Market close

Michael Hill rose 3c or 5% to 63c after reporting positive momentum over the last seven weeks of the financial year. Photo / NZME

The New Zealand sharemarket was rescued late in the day and finished flat after a sterling two weeks of welcome gains. There was a revival in retail stocks.

After a correction on Wall Street, the S&P/NZX 50 Index had an early-morning fall. But there was a sharp rise in the end-of-day broker matching session and the index closed at 12,261.23, down 3.84 points or 0.03%, after reaching an intraday low of 12,224.36.

The index was up nearly 1.5% for the week and has now gained more than 4.5% for the year.

There were 72 gainers and 68 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 40.2 million share transactions worth $150.93 million. The trading was dominated by Contact Energy, down 19c or 2.19% to $8.50 with 3.82 million shares worth $32.52m changing hands.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated from its high with a fall of 533 points or 1.29% to 40,665.02; the S&P 500 declined 0.78% to 5544.59; and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.7% to 17,871.22 as investors continued to move out of the Magnificent Seven tech stocks.

The shift comes after cooling inflation data and stronger-than-expected retail sales data bolstered expectations that the US Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates in September.

At home, the consumer discretionary sector increased 2.9% on the NZX. The Warehouse rebounded 11c or 10.48% to $1.16; Michael Hill was up 3c or 5% to 63c; Briscoe Group increased 23c or 5.54% to $4.38; and KMD Brands was down 1.5c or 3.66% to 39.5c.

Michael Hill reported positive momentum over the last seven weeks of the financial year, with group sales up 6%. Sales increased 3.8% for the whole year and 4.9% for the second half.

Australia was up 10.5% for the full year and 12% for the second half; New Zealand was down 11.8% and 12%; and Canada was up 0.3% and 1.6%. Gross margin was 60.5% for the year, and Michael Hill has 300 stores across the three countries.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 30c to $31.65; Ebos Group gained 19c to $34.79; Freightways collected 10c to $8.70; Restaurant Brands rose 14c or 4.9% to $3; SkyCity increased 6c or 3.92% to $1.59; and Heartland Group was up 3c or 3% to $1.03.

Tourism Holdings increased 10c or 4.83% to $2.17; Sky TV gained 8c or 3.03% to $2.72; Tower added 3c or 3.24% to 95.5c; Colonial Motor was up 15c or 2.21% to $6.95; and Green Cross Health improved 4c or 4.94% to 85c.

Software firm Blackpearl Group gained a further 5c or 7.04% to 76c and has risen 33% this week after a strong first-quarter update.

In the energy sector, Mercury was down 8.5c to $7.065; Meridian was up 7c to $6.89; and Genesis gained 4c or 1.79% to $2.27.

Meridian told the market the Harapaki Wind Farm north of Napier – the second-largest in the country – is now fully operational and was completed within the $448m capital forecast. The wind farm can produce enough electricity to power 70,000 average homes, which covers most of Hawke’s Bay.

Genesis reported growth in customer numbers and a 3.5% increase in the volume of electricity sold in the fourth quarter. The Huntly station was powered up to an additional 638GWh, compared with the same period last year, because of the constrained gas market and declining hydro storage.

Vector, up 1c to $3.72, reported 624,330 electricity and 120,354 gas connections for the year ending June, up 1.9% and 0.6% respectively. Distributed electricity volumes increased 2.4% to 8754GWh, and LPG volumes were up 5.4% to 44,165 tonnes.

Ryman Healthcare was down 14c or 3.26% to $4.15; a2 Milk declined decreased 17c or 2.19% to $7.58; Gentrack eased 20c or 1.83% to $10.75; and ANZ Bank declined 63c or 1.88% to $32.80.

Chorus shed 10c to $7.86; PGG Wrightson was down 4c or 1.9% to $2.06; Marsden Maritime Holdings eased 6c or 1.79 to $3.30; T&G Global declined 4c or 2.35% to $1.66; and Being AI fell 0.007 or 11.67% to 5.3c.

Scott Technology was up 4c to $2.50. Scott has appointed Mike Christman as the new chief executive to replace John Kippenberger at the end of August. Christman has been a global executive vice president of Vanderlande BV and overseen a team of 2000 in logistics automation.

Livestock Improvement Corp, shedding 2c to $1.18, reported revenue of $267.3m, down 3.3%, and net profit of $7.7m, falling 71.7%, for the year ending May. LIC, with no debt, is paying a final dividend of 5.84c a share on August 16, and is expecting underlying earnings of $16m-$22m for the 2025 financial year, up from $13.9m.