Market close: NZ sharemarket plunges, volatility takes toll on glamour stocks

The New Zealand sharemarket fell nearly 2 per cent. Photo / NZME

The volatility in the New Zealand sharemarket, having another big fall of nearly 2 per cent, is now taking its toll on some of the glamour stocks – including Fisher and Paykel Healthcare hitting a near two-year low.

Amid all the economic and geopolitical uncertainty, the S&P/NZX 50 Index fell steadily all day, closing at 11,913.27 – down 228.49 points or 1.88 per cent. The index has fallen more than 8.6 per cent so far this year and has been sliding since early November from a perch of 13,090 points.

There were118 decliners and 26 gainers over the whole market on a steady volume of 42.06 million share transactions worth $147.66 million.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said when there's a lot of uncertainty around, markets re-price very quickly and that's what happened today.

"There were simply more sellers than buyers – creating a liquidity squeeze - as investors look to reduce the risk in their portfolios. We have seen investors looking at more defensive stocks lately but that wasn't played out today," Solly said.

The NZ dollar has strengthened to nearly US69c against the American greenback, after falling to US65.5c in late January. Crude oil reached US$123 a barrel, creating further pain at the petrol pumps.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, down $95c or 3.41 per cent to $26.90, has fallen to its lowest level since March 20, 2020, when it sat at $26.61.

Transport and logistics performer Mainfreight fell $4.35 or 5.27 per cent to $78.15. Online travel provider Serko, down 33c or 6.83 per cent to $4.50, has plunged from a high of $8.32 in early September last year – and it started this year at $7.

The leading retirement village stocks keep being buffeted. Ryman Healthcare, declining 16c to $9.54 is down from $15.80 in early September and $12.25 at the start of the year.

Summerset Group Holdings, decreasing 32c or 2.64 per cent to $11.80; has fallen from $13.81 in early January.

The quarterly rebalancing of the S&P NZX and ASX indices have seen the impact of falling share prices. The a2 Milk Company, down 13c or 2.24 per cent to $5.67, will be removed from the NZX top 10 on March 21 and replaced by EBOS Group, which fell $1.86 or 4.78 per cent to $37.06.

There are no changes in the NZX 20 and 50, and a2 Milk falls into the MidCap Index, replacing EBOS.

SkyCity Entertainment, down 9c or 3.02 per cent to $2.89, and Spark, declining 7c to $4.62, are being removed from the ASX 20) Index.

DGL Group (down 7c or 2.33 per cent to $2.93), Ventia Services (up 5c or 1.96 per cent to $2.60); and Vulcan Steel (down 34c or 3.47 per cent to $9.45) are joining the ASX All Ordinaries, while Air New Zealand, Contact Energy, Meridian, Pushpay Holdings and Synlait are being removed.

Infratil, which holds nearly 50 per cent of Vodafone, told the market that the telco is starting the process of a potential sale of its 1487 cell towers in New Zealand – which could fetch around $1 billion. Infratil's share price slipped 3c to $8.19.

Fletcher Building declined 8c to $6.47; Air New Zealand fell 5.5c or 3.62 per cent to $1.465; Goodman Property Trust was down 4.5c or 1.86 per cent to $2.38; NZME gave up 12c or 7.59 per cent to $1.46; Vista Group shed 9c or 4.66 per cent to $1.84; and Tourism Holdings was down 8c or 3 per cent to $2.59.

Rakon shed 9c or 5 per cent to $1.71; South Port New Zealand decreased 16c or 1.8 per cent to $8.74; Pacific Edge declined 3c or 3.33 per cent to 88c; My Food Bag lost 3c or 3.16 per cent to 92c; and Evolve Education fell 8c 9.09 per cent to 80c.

The banks were sold down. ANZ Banking Group declined 50c or 1.82 per cent to $26.90; Westpac Banking Corporation also shed 50c or 2.1 per cent to $23.30; and Heartland Group Holdings decreased 5c or 2.22 per cent to $2.20.

Retailers Briscoe Group was down 13c or 2.17 per cent to $5.87; Kathmandu Holdings declined 5c or 3.68 per cent to $1.31; and The Warehouse Group decreased 8c or 2.55 per cent to $3.06.

NZX declined 3c or 2.08 per cent to $1.41; Move Logistics was down 4c or 2.9 per cent to $1.34; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand fell 6c or 2.63 per cent to $2.22; and Carbon Fund shed 12c or 5.38 per cent to $2.11.

Among the few gainers, Accordant Group increased 10c or 5.41 per cent to $1.95; and Chatham Rock Phosphate rose 3.8c or 20.88 per cent to 20c.