NZ sharemarket drops 1.49% amid global market volatility

Global sharemarkets have been on a roller coaster ride in the past week. Photo / 123RF

The New Zealand sharemarket finished a tumultuous week with a fall of nearly 1.5% but it came away reasonably unscathed from the gyrations offshore.

After another down day on Wall Street, the S&P/NZX 50 Index opened lower and then traded steadily to close at 12,019.13, down 182.3 points or 1.49%.

Volumes were lighter with 26.7 million shares worth $104.55 million changing hands.

With daily swings of minus 3.68% and plus 3.34%, the index ended the week with a decline of more than 1.5% and has now fallen nearly 8.4% for the year.

Since United States President Donald Trump announced the sweeping reciprocal tariffs on “Liberation Day”, April 2, the New Zealand market is down 2.3% compared with the US falling 7%, Australia 4.1% and China 4%.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said, “We may have seen the worst of the tariff announcements but when you get a big shakeout [in the markets] there will still be a roller coaster ride – and that’s what happened today.

“The US had some good inflation data and normally that would be positive for the markets, but they are focused on the ongoing tariff question marks.

“The capital markets, or bond vigilantes, seem to be influencing the policy decisions coming out of Washington DC, and the changes in the tariff stance have knocked investor confidence around. The markets will continue to be choppy,” Solly said.

The US March consumer price index (CPI) showed its annual inflation rate had fallen to 2.4%, from 2.8% in February, but economists there said that could be the nadir (in inflation) as Trump’s massive and sweeping tariffs upend global order and make imports – and, likely, end-products for consumers – markedly more expensive.

The New Zealand March quarter CPI, released next week, is expected to show annual inflation edging up 0.2% to 2.4%, in line with the Reserve Bank’s forecast.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.5% to 39,593.66 points, the S&P 500 declined 3.46% to 5268.05; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 4.31% to 16,387.31. The day before, those markets had their third-best single-day rises in modern history.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 1.1% to 7624.6 points at 5.45pm NZ time.

The NZ dollar has strengthened against a weakening American greenback and is now trading at US57.9c, and A93c against the Australian dollar. Gold reached a new all-time high at US$3216 an oz.

At home, the market was driven down by Fisher and Paykel Healthcare falling $1.06 or 3.08% to $33.40; Infratil declining 23c or 2.31% to $9.72; and Mainfreight shedding $1.34 or 2.18% to $60.

Ebos Group declined $2.46 or 6.38% to $36.10 after completing a $217m institutional placement at $36.65 a share. It is now raising a further $54m through a retail offer.

The money will be used to pay for the purchase of SVS Veterinary Supplies at a cost of $115m, plus an earn-out of up to $10m, and buying the remaining 10% shareholding in Transmedic it didn’t already own for A$35m ($37.7m).

Freightways was down 18c or 1.7% to $10; Ryman Healthcare shed 5c or 1.96% to $2.50; Oceania Healthcare decreased 2c or 3.23% to 60c; Skellerup declined 22c or 5.06% to $4.13; Gentrack eased 19c or 1.78% to $10.51; and Serko was down 13c or 3.71% to $3.37.

The dual-listed banking groups ANZ and Westpac were down $1.19 or 3.97% to $28.81 and $1.06 or 3.19% to $32.14 respectively. Heartland Group decreased 2c or 2.67% to 73c.

Other decliners were KMD Brands down 2c or 5.88% to 32c; The Warehouse decreasing 3c or 3.61% to 80c; NZX shedding 4c or 2.65% to $1.47; Michael Hill falling 2.5c or 5.49% to 43c; and Tourism Holdings down 7c or 4.27% to $1.57.

PGG Wrightson rose 9c or 5.11% to $1.85; Kiwi increased 1.5c or 1.76% to 86.5c; Santana Minerals was up 4c or 8.16% to 53c; Seeka gained 10c or 2.67% to $3.85; and Solution Dynamics up 2c or 3.17% to 65c.