“The market made good ground in the afternoon which showed it was taking the geopolitical instability in its stride,” Sullivan said. “The NZ dollar fell (to US59.44c) against the American greenback and this has helped stocks like Fisher and Paykel Healthcare.”
The US markets fell sharply over the weekend in anticipation of the Iran drone and missile attack on Israel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.24 per cent to 37,983.24 points; S&P 500 declined 1.46 per cent to 5123.41; and Nasdaq Composite eased 1.62 per cent to 16,175.09.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.49 per cent to 7749.8 points at 6pm NZ time. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index had fallen 0.52 per cent to 16,635.24 points, and the Japanese Nikkei 225 was down 0.91 per cent to 39,163.01.
Sullivan said the Reserve Bank adjusted its official cash rate ‘neutral’ projection to 3.9 per cent, from 4 per cent, when it removes its restrictive monetary policy stance and the rate begins falling.
The March quarter consumer price index, released on Wednesday, is expected to show annual inflation eased to 4 per cent, from 4.7 per cent at the end of December, but still above the Reserve Bank forecast of 3.8 per cent.
Stats NZ reported that food prices increased 0.7 per cent in the year ending March, the smallest rise since April 2021. It was significantly lower than the 12.1 per cent annual increase in March last year.
Market leader and exporter Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was one of the few gainers, increasing 40c to $26.63.
Ebos Group added 39c to $35.50; Fletcher Building was up 5c to $3.95; Auckland International Airport gained 6c to $8.09; Tower rose 2.5c or 3.52 per cent to 73.5c; and Seeka increased 6c or 2.05 per cent to $2.98.
Gentrack eased 18c or 2.12 per cent to $8.30; a2 Milk shed 8c to $6.28; Skellerup declined 9c or 2.05 per cent to $4.30; Vista Group decreased 4c or 2.03 per cent to $1.93; AFT Pharmaceuticals fell 13c or 4.02 per cent to $3.10; Serko was down 10c or 2.86 per cent to $3.40; and Smartpay was down 5c or 3.42 per cent to $1.41.
In the retail sector, Briscoe Group declined 10c or 2.15 per cent to $4.55; Hallenstein Glasson was down 8c to $6; KMD Brands shed 2c or 3.45 per cent to 56c; and The Warehouse was up 3c or 2.07 per cent to $1.48.
Port companies Napier was down 7c or 2.98 per cent to $2.28, Tauranga declined 6c to $5.07, while Marsden Maritime Holdings and South Port NZ were both up 5c to $4.15 and $5.90 respectively.
Manawa Energy was down 1c to $4.64 after reporting a 31 per cent in hydro generation production for the fourth quarter, compared with the previous corresponding period, because of the planned Waipori scheme outage and lower than average inflows.
Manawa’s storage at the end of March was 83 per cent of average, and the full-year production volume was steady at 1901GWh.
Oceania Healthcare declined 3c or 4.69 per cent to 61c after reporting a 20 per cent rise in new sales and 14 per cent increase in resales for the 12 months ending March compared with the previous year. Oceania completed 182 new units and will deliver a further 224 units in the 2025 financial year.
Cooks Coffee, unchanged at 27c, increased sales 17.6 per cent to $58.2m for the year ending March, with UK stores up 21.1 per cent to $38.3m and Ireland up 11.3 per cent to $19.9m. Cooks has 77 sites, up from 66 in the previous year.
Blackpearl Group, down 1c to 69c, told the market that subscription revenue for the year ending March reached $1.3m and annual recurring revenue was $7.4m.
