Trading growth on NZX stalls in April

Trading growth on NZX Ltd's markets stalled in April, with a decline in the value and volume of trades from a month earlier.

Total trades dropped 11 per cent to 45,284 in April from a month earlier, and were up 2 per cent from the same month a year earlier. The total value traded fell 4.3 per cent to $1.8 billion from March, and was down 11 per cent from April 2009, which was "comparable with lower liquidity levels globally," the bourse operator said in a statement.


The number of trades fell 11 per cent to 40,928 from a month earlier, and was flat compared to April 2009, while the value traded sank 4.4 per cent to $1.67 billion from March, and was down 13 per cent from April 2009.

Liquidity on the NZX has been under scrutiny, with investors still waiting for the year to start picking up, and fund manager Paul Glass, who bought Goldman Sachs JBWere's asset management fund, last month told investors that his new Devon Funds Management would favour Australian stocks over New Zealand.

The debt market, which underpinned most of March's growth, reported a 6.8 per cent fall in the number of trades to 4,214 in April, though it was up 20 per cent from the same month a year earlier. The value of debt traded declined 5 per cent to $134 million month-on-month, and was up 11 per cent from April 2009.

Trading on the small-cap NZAX shrank 12 per cent to 142 trades in April, with the value shrinking 13 per cent to $920,000. Year-on-year, the volume of trades fell 11 per cent, though the value climbed 73 per cent.

Some $60.5 million of new equity and $100 million of new debt was raised in April. The market capitalisation edged up to $5.29 billion, from $54.95 billion in March, and gained 17 per cent from April 2009.

The NZX 50 index edged up 0.6 per cent to 3,286 in April, and is up 4 per cent this year.

Shares in the bourse operator climbed 1.7 per cent to $1.83 in trading this morning.