Market close: Sharemarket going out with a whimper

Ryman Healthcare was down a further 17c or 2.93 per cent to $5.63. Its share price has fallen 54 per cent this year. Photo / NZME

The country’s biggest retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare has slid to a nine-year low as the New Zealand sharemarket continues its weak finish to the year.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was going along steadily until it had a late afternoon slump and closed at 11,404.83, down 113.31 points or 0.98 per cent. The index has fallen 1.7 per cent in the two trading days so far this week.

As the market moves into holiday mode, light trading finally struck with 24.34 million shares worth $95.58 million changing hands. There were 43 gainers and 90 decliners on the main board.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said institutional investors have stepped out, volumes were light and the market is going out with a whimper.

Business and consumer confidence in New Zealand has plummeted to record lows. The ANZ business confidence survey in December showed a fall of 13 points to minus 70 and expected own activity declined from minus 14 to minus 26.

The Westpac McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index for December fell 12 points to 75.6, its lowest level since the survey began 34 years ago in 1988.

Overnight on Wall Street, the major indices were weaker for the fifth successive trading day as investors in the United States worried about a recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 0.49 per cent to 32,757.54 points, is now beating the technology-driven Nasdaq Composite by more than 22 per cent this year – the largest outperformance since 2000. The Nasdaq has fallen 32.59 per cent this year.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 1.47 per cent to 7029.2 points at 6pm NZ time.

At home, Ryman Healthcare was down a further 17c or 2.93 per cent to $5.63 – a share price level last seen in April 2013 when it moved steadily ahead to a peak of $15.80 in September last year.

Sullivan said Ryman, a well-liked company, just keeps being sold off. “People are talking up a possible capital raise by Ryman to pay back interest-bearing debt, and that would explain the retrenchment in its share price.

“Ryman has never done a capital raising since listing in 1999, and with $3 billion interest-bearing liabilities on an asset base of $12b and deferred payments of $4.7b to residents, it is highly geared.

“Ryman’s business model is a leveraged play on the housing market, and if the company did a capital raise, it would be well supported,” Sullivan said.

Ryman’s share price has fallen 54 per cent this year. Fellow operators Summerset Group was down 9c to $9.02 and has declined nearly 31 per cent this year; Arvida shed 5c or 4.39 per cent to $1.09 (down nearly 44 per cent for the year); and Oceania Healthcare decreased 1c to 76c (down more than 43 per cent).

Leading stocks were hit late in the day. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 30c to $21.70; Chorus declined 12.5c to $8.15; a2 Milk decreased 19c or 2.69 per cent to $6.88; Freightways shed 27c or 2.74 per cent to $9.60; and Fletcher Building fell 17c or 3.51 per cent to $4.68.

Port of Tauranga shed 9c to $6.39; Napier Port was down 5c to $2.85; SkyCity Entertainment fell 10c or 3.95 per cent to $2.43; and Pacific Edge declined 2c or 4.08 per cent to 47c.

In the energy sector, Contact declined 8c to $7.80; Mercury was also down 8c to $5.515; Vector decreased 4c to $4.21; and Meridian was up 4c to $5.22.

Auckland International Airport was down 11c to $7.92 after telling the market it has chosen Lagardere AWPL as its main duty-free retailer from September next year through to mid-2025. By then, a full tender process will take place for a long-term contract as the airport transitions to a single duty-free operator.

Existing operators Aelia Duty Free, owned by Lagardere Travel Retail SAS, and The Loop Duty Free will continue trading at the airport until their licences expire.

Precinct Properties, down 2c to $1.32, has formed a partnership with private equity developer Lamont & Co to build multi-unit residential complexes, initially in central Auckland. Fellow property companies Investore shed 3c or 2 per cent to $1.47, and Stride declined 4c or 2.76 per cent to $1.41.

Other decliners were Rakon falling 2c or 1.87 per cent to $1.05; Smartpay Holdings down 3c or 2.78 per cent to $1.05; Serko shedding 4c to $2.30; and KMD Brands giving up 2c or 1.82 per cent to $1.08.

Michael Hill International was up 3c or 2.68 per cent to $1.15; PGG Wrightson collected 10c or 2.33 per cent to $4.40; Hallenstein Glasson increased 8c to $5.38 Heartland Group added 3c to $1.83; and MHM Automation was up 4c or 5.06 per cent to 83c.

Booster Innovation Fund, down 2.9c or 1.99 per cent to $1.43, has added early-stage educational technology company Komodo Holdings to its portfolio, investing $250,000. Booster has invested in 27 companies.

Chatham Rock Phosphate gained 1c or 4.76 per cent to 22c after telling the market it has finalised access with the landowner and will begin exploring Korella South in Queensland from February.