Market close: NZ shares flat to end the week

Port of Tauranga produced a strong performance in challenging times. Its shares rose 15c or 2.22 per cent to $6.90. Photo / Mead Norton

The New Zealand sharemarket continued to lack real direction and closed the week flat as it waited for the latest economic messages and any moves from the meeting of the world's central bankers at Jackson Hole in the US.

With the latest reporting season coming to an end, the country's leading port at Tauranga, however, produced a strong performance in challenging times.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index eased in the afternoon, closing down 18.84 points or 0.16 per cent to 11,608.29 after reaching an intraday high of 11,683.32.

The index is up nearly 1.3 per cent this month and has fallen nearly 11 per cent so far this year.

There were 77 gainers and 63 decliners on the main board, with trading volume reaching 110.72 million transactions worth $360.88 million, boosted by the sale of 48.12 million Smartshares S&P/NZX 50 exchange trade fund units at $117.81m.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said there was a bit of nervousness around what happens with the central banks' discussions.

"Once we get the communications out of the meeting things will be clearer. Inflation is still very high and I don't see the central banks cutting interest rates any time soon."

US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell was making a keynote speech overnight.

The NZ dollar was weaker at 89c against the Australian after being above 90c for the past four months.

Solly said there has been a blizzard of company reporting locally and it will still take a day or two for people to digest the financial results. But there have been more upgrades than downgrades.

Port of Tauranga rose 15c or 2.22 per cent to $6.90 after overcoming chain supply disruption with a solid annual result, recording an 8.7 per cent increase in net profit to $111.31m on revenue of $375.28m, up 10.1 per cent.

Port of Tauranga's overall trade was steady at 25.6 million tonnes, with imports reaching 9.7 million tonnes and exports 15.9 million tonnes. It is paying a final dividend of 8.2c a share on October 7.

Fellow port operator Marsden Maritime Holdings increased 10c or 1.85 per cent to $5.50 after reporting an 8.08 per cent fall in net profit to $13.1m on revenue of $17.15m, up 2.4 per cent for the year ending June. Marsden is paying a final dividend 10c a share on September 30.

Auckland International Airport was up 16.5c or 2.2 per cent to $7.68 on trade worth $18.8m; Contact Energy increased 11c to $7.88; and a2 Milk, which is reporting its much-anticipated result on Monday, improved 5c to $5.47.

PGG Wrightson gained 11c or 2.5 per cent to $4.51, and NZME was up 4c or 3.25 per cent to $1.27.

Hallenstein Glasson slipped 22c or 3.84 per cent to $5.51 after telling the market its net profit for the year ending August 1 will fall by nearly 27 per cent to $23.9m-$24.9m and its group sales were $351.21m, an increase of 0.1 per cent.

Tourism Holdings gained 5c or 1.89 per cent to $2.70 after reporting a 4 per cent decrease in revenue to $345.75m for the 12 months ending June but improving its bottom line with a loss of $2.12m compared with $14.5m in the previous year. Tourism Holdings is forecasting net profit of $17m-$30.2m for the 2023 financial year.

Wine exporter Delegat Group was down 19c to $12 despite selling a record 3.36m cases around the world in the last financial year. Sales revenue increased 8 per cent to $319.3m and net profit was up 2 per cent to $63m. Delegat is paying a final dividend of 20c a share on October 14.

Other decliners were Ryman Healthcare down 16c to $9.19; Summerset Group Holdings decreasing 20c to $11; and Sky Network Television shedding 5c or 1.91 per cent to $2.57.

Energy companies Mercury was down 21c or 3.41 per cent to $5.94, and Manawa declined 14c or 2.24 per cent to $6.10. Property companies Precinct shed 4c or 2.9 per cent to $1.33; and Argosy fell 4c or 2.97 per cent to $1.305.

Scales Corporation was down 7c to $4.68; Seeka declined 11c or 2.64 per cent to $4.05; Serko decreased 8c or 2.23 per cent to $3.50; and Comvita fell 14c or 4.13 per cent to $3.25 after delivering its second best result the day before.

Vector, paying a final dividend of 8.5c a share on September 19, gained 3c to $4.74 after reporting a 17.3 per cent fall in net profit to $160.9m on revenue of $1.34 billion, up 4.7 per cent.

New Zealand Oil & Gas staged a near $70m turnaround, reporting net profit of $25.7m following a $43.3m loss in the previous year. Revenue surged 133 per cent to $83.8m on production of 1.2m barrels of oil. Its share price increased 1.5c or 3.53 per cent to 44c.