Market close: New Zealand stocks meander to another weak close

A fall in Fisher and Paykel Healthcare's share price helped drive the sharemarket lower. Pboto / Supplied

The New Zealand sharemarket ended a miserable week with its fourth fall after another sell-off on Wall Street.

Even an upbeat trading report from Michael Hill International couldn't inspire the local market.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index began falling at noon after its Australian counterpart opened weak. The index closed at 12,790.16, down 36.82 points or 0.29 per cent after reaching a morning high of 12,847.33 and improving late in the day.

The index fell nearly 1.4 per cent for the week. On another quiet trading day, 23.16 million shares worth $102.52 million changed hands, and there were 54 gainers and 86 losers across the whole market.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.95 per cent to 7403.3 at 5.45pm NZ time.

Michael Hill International slipped 2c to $1.51 after reporting strong growth for the quarter ending December 26.

All-store sales increased 9.8 per cent from $198m ($NZ210m) to $217.5m ($230.7m), despite 2381 lost store trading days in New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Online sales rose 28 per cent and represent 8.2 per cent of total sales.

The jewellery retailer has now had 10 quarters of same store sales growth since the third quarter of 2019, and it has increased its latest half-year operating earnings (ebit) forecast to $A49-$53m, compared with $44.6m in the previous corresponding period.

It was a soggy day for the retailers. The Warehouse Group was down 11c or 3.05 per cent to $3.50; Briscoe Group declined 19c or 2.86 per cent to $6.45; Hallenstein Glasson shed 5c to $6.88; and Kathmandu Holdings decreased 2c to $1.40.

The retirement village stocks were again volatile. Ryman Healthcare fell 35c or 2.87 per cent to $11.83, matching its low in early December; Summerset Group Holdings was down 17c to $13.20; Arvida was up 3c to $1.92; and Oceania Healthcare gained 3c or 2.36 per cent to $1.30.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare declined 40c to $31.48; a2 Milk shed a further 5c to $5.71; Synlait fell 4c to $3.49; Mercury was down 11c or 1.8 per cent to $6; SkyCity Entertainment decreased 5c to $2.90; and Serko lost 17c or 2.75 per cent to $6.01.

Port of Tauranga shed 10c to $6.53, nearing its low of $6.51 on November 4; Pushpay Holdings was down 3c or 2.36 per cent to $1.24; Goodman Property Trust fell 5.5c or 2.08 per cent to $2.59; and Kiwi Property declined 3c or 2.52 per cent to $1.16.

NZME was down another 4c or 3.1 per cent to $1.25; Move Logistics declined 5c or 2.94 per cent to $1.65; DGL Group decreased 9c or 2.86 per cent to $3.06; Gentrack shed 6c or 3.06 per cent to $1.90; and Accordant Group was down 6c or 3.13 per cent to $1.86.

EBOS Group collected 18c to $40; Mainfreight gained $1.10 to $93; Contact Energy was up 14c or 1.77 per cent to $8.04; Scales Corporation increased 13c or 2.49 per cent to $5.35; Tourism Holdings collected 7c or 2.55 per cent to $2.82; and reinvigorated Steel & Tube rose 6c or 3.68 per cent to $1.69.