Sharemarket falls more than 1% on last day of trading for 2024 – Market close

Blair Turnbull is the chief executive of Tower Insurance, which was the best-performing NZX 50-listed company in 2024. Photo / Brett Phibbs / www.photosport.nz

The New Zealand sharemarket ended the year with a sudden fall of more than 1% but it still put in its best performance since 2020.

After rising nearly 4% in the previous five trading days, the S&P/NZX 50 Index fell sharply on the opening following a weak day on Wall Street and then declined further in the last 15 minutes.

The index closed at 13,110.74, down 159.27 points or 1.2%, on light trading of 19.66 million shares worth $73.2 million. There were 91 decliners and 37 gainers on the main board.

The NZX index finished the year with a gain of 11.4%, up from 2.6% in 2023 and behind the rise of 13.92% in 2020. The five-year average (compounding annual returns) was an increase of 7.1%, 10 years 9.1% and 20 years 7.6%.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said the local market had a weak lead from the United States, and the fall all happened in a rush. It was another low-volume day which saw some unusual price movements.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.97% to 42,573.73 points; the S&P 500 declined 1.07% to 5906.94; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.19% to 19,486.

Solly said a banner year for US stocks ended badly as a retreat in technology stocks extended a stretch of losses that began when the Federal Reserve cooled expectations for interest rate cuts.

However, there was some relief, with long-term bond yields declining. The US 10 Year Treasury Note yield was down to 4.543% from a six-month high of 4.625%, and the NZ 10 Year Government Bond yield decreased 8.1 basis points to 4.427%.

Solly said overall, the New Zealand sharemarket has had a solid year – which would have surprised many people considering what has been happening around the world, economically and politically.

“Our market flicked the switch in mid-June on the expectation of the Reserve Bank cutting interest rates, and the gains have all come in the second half of the year, with the NZX gross index rising 11.9%,” he said. “We are expecting a recovery in corporate earnings in 2025.”

The best-performing stocks in the NZX’s top 50 were Tower, up 121.31%; Gentrack, 90.33%; Vista Group, 87.88%; Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, 62.71%; and Hallenstein Glasson increasing 58.65%.

The worst-performing stocks were Tourism Holdings, down 48.31%; Spark, 43.05%; KMD Brands, 40.67%; Fletcher Building, 37.5%; and The Warehouse declining 35.4%.

“We’ve seen a strong year from world-class companies like Fisher and Paykel, Gentrack, Vista and Channel Infrastructure, and hard-fought turnarounds from Tower and Fonterra. I’d definitely have some of these companies in my New Year’s Honours list,” said Solly.

On the wider trading board, the top stocks were Blackpearl Group, up 132.32%, Tower, Gentrack, Vista and Enprise Group, increasing 78.33%.

The worst stocks were Rua Bioscience, down 71.44%, Comvita, 65.65%, Marlborough Wine Estates (which is delisting) falling by 60.4%, Move Logistics, 60.38%; Greenfern Industries, 58.93%; and Smartpay declining by 57.24%.

The NZ dollar became the worst-performing G10 currency during the year – down 10.73% against the American greenback and trading at US56.39c. The NZ dollar underperformed the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index by 18.32%.

On the last day of trading for 2024, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 61c to $38.40; Ryman Healthcare declined 14c or 2.89% to $4.71; Ebos Group decreased 75c or 1.98% to $37.05; Chorus shed 19.5c or 2.17% to $8.805; and Gentrack eased 30c or 2.83% to $12.60.

The property sector was weaker. Precinct fell 8.5c or 6.72% to $1.18; Goodman Trust declined 7c or 3.37% to $2.01; Stride was down 3c or 2.24% to $1.31; Argosy decreased 4c or 3.85% to $1; and Investore shed 2c or 1.72% to $1.14.

In the energy sector, Contact gave back 30c or 3.06% to $9.50; Meridian was down 11c or 1.83% to $5.91; Mercury also shed 11c or 1.85% to $5.85; and Vector declined 10c or 2.5% to $3.90.

Colonial Motor was down 20c or 3% to $6.46; NZME declined 3c or 2.75% to $1.06; NZX decreased 3c or 2.01% to $1.46; Enprise shed 3c or 2.73% to $1.07; My Food Bag eased 1c or 4.55% to 21c; and 2 Cheap Cars was down 2c or 2.56% to 76c.

Third Age Health increased 10c or 4.27% to $2.44; Green Cross Health improved 3c or 3.75% to 83c; The Warehouse collected 2c or 1.96% to $1.04; and PGG Wrightson was up 5c or 3.27% to $1.58.

Scales Corp added 7c or 1.75% to $4.06; Synlait Milk gained 1c or 2.35% to 43.5c; and NZ Rural Land was up 2c or 2.22% to 92c.

SkyCity was unchanged at $1.45 after telling the market former South Australia Supreme Court judge Brian Martin’s review of its Adelaide casino operations will now be completed by the end of May.