Market close: August worst trading month in more than a year

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The New Zealand sharemarket, unsettled by mixed company results, slowing economy and election uncertainty, fell more than 4 per cent in August – the worst trading month for more than a year.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index went as low as 11,455.71 in the morning before recovering strongly to close at 11,554.48, up 33.36 points or 0.29 per cent. It meant the index was down nearly 4.15 per cent for the month – the previous biggest slide was 3.9 per cent in June last year.

The session was extended for the quarterly rebalancing of the MSCI indices and in the flurry of late trading 81.46 million shares worth $368.39 million changed hands. There were 76 gainers and 57 decliners on the main board,

Genesis Energy, up 12.5c or 5.19 per cent to $2.535, was removed from the MSCI index and 18.6m shares worth $47.02m were crossed.

Spark, up 6c to $5.075, and Summerset Group, gaining 35c or 3.54 per cent to $10.25, had their weightings reduced on trade worth $35.72m and $5.9m respectively.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said it has been a tough month for the local market with a correction in company earnings and economic and political policies.

“There’s been a good clean-out in the market and there’s a sigh of relief that the month is over,” he said. “Results were pretty mixed, companies were cautious, long term bond yields went up sharply and the election uncertainty created an edge to the market.”

Business confidence, however, is improving though it is still negative. The ANZ August survey showed confidence lifted another 9 points to minus 4, the highest move since mid-2021, and expected own activity lifted 10 points to plus 11.

ANZ Research said “many firms appear to have been pleasantly surprised at how well demand has held up, considering; and the Reserve Bank has stopped raising the official cash rate (while reserving the right to change their minds), which may be creating a sense that the worst is over.

“Workers are much easier for firms to find but unemployment is still very low, and inflation signals are dropping away very tidily.” ANZ said pricing intentions were trending lower and firms’ expected costs in three months have eased.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 31c to $22.71; Ebos Group gained 47c to $37.95; Napier Port added 6c or 2.68 per cent to $2.30; and SkyCity increased 11c or 4.87 per cent to $2.37 after the National Party said it would tighten international game tax rules.

Ryman Healthcare gained 6c to $6.64; Heartland Group increased 5c or 2.87 per cent to $1.79; and Carbon Fund was up 5c or 2.78 per cent to $1.85.

Precinct Properties collected 1.5c to $1.23; Sky TV was up 8c or 3.31 per cent to $2.50; Vulcan Steel added 10c to $8.50; Bremworth rose 6.5c or 15.12 per cent to 49.5c; and Savor Group increased 2c or 6.45 per cent to 33c.

Auckland International Airport was down 8c to $7.81 on trade worth $41.81m with suggestions that some of Auckland Council’s shareholding may come onto the market next week, now that the airport has presented its annual result and the pricing review is out of the way.

Auckland airport’s share price was $8.87 when the council decided in late May to sell 7 per cent of its 18 per cent airport stake.

In the retail sector, Hallenstein Glasson increased 16c or 2.66 per cent to $6.18; The Warehouse rose 10c or 5.95 per cent to $1.78; and Michael Hill was up 2c or 2 per cent to $1.02.

Mercury Energy fell 13c or 2.05 per cent to $6.205; Mainfreight declined $1.44 or 2.15 per cent to $65.56; Fletcher Building shed 8c to $4.83; and a2 Milk and Synlait were down 12c or 2.34 per cent to $5 and 4c or 2.92 per cent to $1.33 respectively on continuing concern about China’s slowing economy.

Restaurant Brands was down a further 18c or 3.87 per cent to $4.47; NZX decreased 4c or 3.33 per cent to $1.16, 2 Cheap Cars shed 4c or 8 per cent to 46c; and Foley Wines declined 3c or 2.4 per cent to $1.22.

Investore declined 4c or 3.1 per cent to $1.25; Vista Group shed 4c or 2.52 per cent to $1.55; and Cooks Coffee was down 3c or 13.64 per cent to 19c.

Delegat Group declined 12c to $8.28 on the day chair Graeme Lord announced his retirement at the annual meeting in late November and he will be replaced in the role by founder Jim Delegat.

TradeWindow, down 0.005c to 32.5c, confirmed at its annual meeting full-year revenue guidance of $7m-$8m and reducing average monthly cash outflow to $400,00 in the second half, compared with $1m in the last six months of the 2023 financial year. Trade Window had trading revenue of $1.5m, up 28 per cent, for the first quarter ending June.

Rua Bioscience, down 0.001c to 11c, told the market it has an agreement to manufacture and supply medicinal cannabis products to Schroll Medical of Denmark.