Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.58 per cent to 7350.1 points at 6pm NZ time.
Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said “the local market was pretty mixed and lumpy following weak leads from the US and Australia, but we are seeing more activity”.
He said Australia’s employment numbers were weaker than expected and perversely that was a positive as it reduced the risk of the Reserve Bank there hiking rates next month.
ANZ Research is expecting New Zealand’s annual inflation – the latest consumer price index will be released next week – to fall sharply to 4.7 per cent, below the Reserve Bank’s forecast of 5 per cent.
The fall, however, will be driven by the tradables component, down from 4.7 per cent to 3.4 per cent, while non-tradable (domestic) inflation is expected to be 5.7 per cent at the end of December.
Stats NZ said food prices last month were 4.8 per cent higher than a year earlier but the pace of price increases has slowed. It was the lowest annual food price increase since December 2021.
Fruit and vegetables were up 2.5 per cent last month, but meat, poultry and fish, grocery food, non-alcoholic beverages and alcoholic beverages were all cheaper.
Auckland International Airport was down 15c or 1.74 per cent to $8.48; Summerset declined 18c to $10.61; Ryman Healthcare shed 15c or 2.5 per cent to $5.85; Port of Tauranga decreased 15c or 2.65 per cent to $5.50; Freightways gave up 14c to $8.45; and Chorus was down 12c to $7.63.
In the energy sector, Meridian was down 6c to $5.55; Mercury declined 8c to $6.52; Contact shed 12c to $8.04; and Genesis increased 4.5c or 1.81 per cent to $2.53.
Synlait fell 7c or 7.45 per cent to 87c and a2 Milk was up 5c to $4.51.
Goodson said the market was concerned about whether Synlait could sell Dairyworks and if it needed to make a capital raise.
Colonial Motor Company, unchanged at $8.45, told the market it expects a near 30 per cent fall in its six-month result, from a previous record high. Around half of this decrease occurred in December.
The anticipated consumer delay in buying light commercial and SUV vehicles became evident through November and worsened in December, Colonial said.
Goodson said new car sales were more cyclical than used cars and the changes to the ute tax and clean car discount hadn’t helped Colonial’s performance.
Infratil, down 5c to $10.195, said its 48 per cent-owned CDC Data Centre had secured more than 110MW of new customer contracts to support further development and growth. The new contracts take place over the next three years.
CDC, which makes up 30 per cent of Infratil’s assets, has increased contracted capacity by more than 200MW over the past 12 months and is expanding by a further 265MW.
“The new contracts de-risk the significant expansion of CDC,” Goodson said.
Among the retailers, Michael Hill gained 3c or 3.23 per cent to 96c; Briscoe Group was down 8c or 1.72 per cent to $4.56; and Hallenstein Glasson declined 19c or 3.33 per cent to $5.51.
Other decliners were Vulcan Steel down 19c or 2.38 per cent to $7.81; Heartland Group declining 4c or 2.7 per cent to $1.44; Eroad shedding 2c or 2.17 per cent to 90c; Arvida Group decreasing 3c or 2.59 per cent to $1.13; and Goodman Property Trust falling 3c or 4.48 per cent to 64c.
Scales Corp was one of the day’s biggest risers, gaining 13c or 4.01 per cent to $3.37.
