Market close: Countdown to earnings season puts NZ shares in limbo

Aged-care facility provider Ryman Healthcare fell 2.9 per cent to $9.26. Photo / NZME

New Zealand's sharemarket dragged its feet as investors keep their powder dry ahead of the upcoming earnings season.

The S&P/NZX 50 index fell 25.6 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 11,702.81. Turnover on the main board was just $74.8 million.

Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said NZ's market was extremely quiet yesterday as the US earnings season draws to a close and the local market appeared to be in limbo until NZ's earnings season kicks off next week.

"The market is going to have to cope with a little less information which may mean – potentially – it may trade sideways over the coming weeks," he said.

Southport shares were up 2.7 per cent to $8.50 on the news that it had contracted a construction company to remove fragmented rock that has been in the port entrance channel after previous dredging campaigns for the last 40 years. The port said that blasting of the channel done in the 1980s left some fragmented rock unable to be retrieved due to the engineering limitations of dredging machinery available at the time.

Aged-care facility provider Ryman Healthcare fell 2.9 per cent to $9.26. But Radius Residential Care was up 1.4 per cent to 35 cents and Oceania Healthcare rose 1 per cent to $1.

Ahead of its annual meeting tomorrow, Metro Performance Glass shares were flat at 25.5 cents. Eroad and car sales company NZ Automotive Investments had the biggest declines of the day. Eroad fell 6.1 per cent to $1.85 and NZ Automotive Investments fell 5.7 per cent to 50 cents per share.

Last week, the New Zealand Stock Exchange market regulator asked the car sales company to provide an assessment on whether their proposed director replacements could be considered independent. Failure to meet the NZX's listing requirements could lead to it suspending trading in NZ shares.

The Colonial Motor Company shares were also down 2.8 per cent to $9.30.

Move Logistics Group shares were up 1.8 per cent to $1.13 by the end of the day on the news of its new transtasman shipping route. The shipping company told the NZX that it had taken a "significant step" in its new Oceans business, with its first transtasman sailing scheduled for October.

New data from industry organisation DairyNZ has shown that dairy farms will need $8.66 per kilogram of milk solids to cover costs – out of a milk payout of $9.50/kgMS A2 Milk was down 2.2 per cent to $5.46 today, and Synlait Milk fell 3.6 per cent to $3.26. Fonterra Shareholders' Fund units were flat at $2.92 per share.

On the currency front, the NZ dollar was trading at 62.48 US cents at 5pm, down from 62.93 on Friday.

- BusinessDesk