NZ shares sink; Comvita tumbles

Comvita led the market lower, slumping 9.1 per cent to $4.72. Photo / File

New Zealand shares joined a regional sell-off as fears over the US-China trade dispute and the risk of a federal government shutdown in the US weighed on investor sentiment. Comvita sank as it exited the benchmark index.

The S&P/NZX dropped 86 points, or 1 per cent, to 8,686.19. Within the index, 40 stocks fell, five gained and five were unchanged. Turnover was $234.8 million, bolstered by a flurry of late activity as institutional investors adjusted portfolios to reflect index changes.

Stocks across Asia were weaker, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index down 0.8 percent in afternoon trading and China's Shanghai Composite falling 1.4 per cent. Wall Street's 'fear gauge' - the Volatility Index - spiked to its highest level in 10 months as US policymakers struggled to reach agreement on a bill to fund President Donald Trump's wall on the Mexican border.

That uncertainty was stoked further by the Five Eyes nations - the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - accusing the Chinese Ministry of State Security of sponsoring a global hacking group to steal intellectual property.

"We're finishing off what's been a tough year in a similar way," said Greg Smith, head of research at Fat Prophets. "Donald Trump is increasingly looking like the grinch who stole the Santa rally," he said referring to the typically strong stock market run in the lead-up to Christmas.

Comvita led the market lower, slumping 9.1 per cent to $4.72, dropping below $5 for the first time since July 2015. The honey products maker left the NZX 50 index today in the latest reweighting, on a bigger than usual volume of 1.2 million.

Pushpay Holdings dropped 6.7 per cent to $3.05 in light trading, which Smith said was normal for a growth stock in this environment.

"They come under pressure more when the market sells off," he said.

Vista Group International will re-join the index on Monday when trading is abbreviated. The stock fell 0.8 per cent to $3.72 on a volume of 7.7 million. Vista today announced a distribution deal with cinema chain Odeon Cinemas Group.

Sky Network Television dropped 5 per cent to $1.90 on above-average volume of 1.4 million. It announced a 10-year extension to its satellite service arrangement with Optus, at a cost of more than $200m.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 2.9 per cent to $12.60, posting the biggest gain of the day. Its volume of 1.6 million shares was more than twice its average.

Spark New Zealand was the most traded stock again with 6.5 million shares changing hands, more than twice the 90-day average. The stock fell 2.8 per cent to $4.16. Meridian Energy fell 2 per cent to $3.40 on a volume of 5.3 million, Fletcher Building rose 1.5 per cent to $4.88 on a volume of 3.6 million and Contact Energy gained 0.9 percent to $5.89 on a volume of 3.4 million.

Of other companies trading on volumes of more than one million shares, Kiwi Property Group fell 0.4 per cent to $1.345, A2 Milk declined 2 per cent to $10.54, Auckland International Airport decreased 1.2 per cent to $7.21, Ryman Healthcare slipped 0.5 per cent to $11.09, Air New Zealand dropped 1.9 per cent to $3.14, Mercury NZ was down 1.7 per cent at $3.54 and Precinct Properties New Zealand fell 0.4 per cent to $1.43.

Chorus was unchanged at $4.72 after a Commerce Commission monitoring report into fibre found residential broadband services were delivering less than 75 per cent of their maximum speed.

Heartland Group decreased 2.9 per cent to $1.36. After trading closed, the bank announced its chief financial officer David Mackrell plans to resign at the end of March.

Outside the benchmark index, Moa Group was unchanged at 41 cents after announcing plans to buy restaurant and bar owner Savor Group for as much as $21.4m in a cash and scrip deal. The brewer will need to raise money from shareholders to help fund the cash component of the transaction.

Payroll software firm PaySauce was unchanged at 2.2 cents in its first day of trading after its reverse listing via Energy Mad.