In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.56 per cent to 34,641.97 points; S&P 500 declined 0.42 per cent to 4496.83; and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.08 per cent to 14,020.95.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 0.76 per cent to 7259 points at 6pm NZ time.
Matt Goodson, manager director of Salt Funds Management, said the oil price rise “is a bit of a headwind. With New Zealand being a petroleum importer, it’s never good to negate the supply-side shock.
“Goods inflation is petering out but services inflation remains sticky and high. The last thing we want is oil inflation to come along and impact goods and services. It means interest rates will stay higher longer if the oil price surge is sustained.”
Goodson said the local market continued to be weak and the election was critical for its future direction. “The earnings season wasn’t that great and there’s been an array of forecast downgrades since then.
“Globally, you have seen a reasonable increase in bond yields, and an easing in central bank monetary policies will not be coming soon. It’s a tricky backdrop.”
At home, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare shed 33c to $22.12; Fletcher Building was down 9c or 1.87 per cent to $4.72; and Spark declined 6c to $4.93.
Auckland International Airport, up 3c to $8.13, topped the individual trading list with 4.94 million shares worth $40.21m changing hands. The airport gained an increased weighting on the FTSE Russell Index following the Auckland Council shares sale and making the stock more liquid for trading.
Meridian, up 1.4c to $5.235, Investore unchanged at $1.27, and Vital Healthcare Property Trust, up 1.4c to $2.18, all went ex-dividend.
In the retirement village sector, Summerset Group was up 6c to $10.01; Arvida Group increased 3c or 2.48 per cent to $1.24; Oceania Healthcare gained 1c to 76c; and Ryman Healthcare was down 5c to $6.54.
In the retail sector, Hallenstein Glasson gained 16c or 2.69 per cent to $6.10; Briscoe Group was up 8c to $4.82; and Michael Hill was down 2c or 1.9 per cent to $1.03.
Gentrack decreased 9c or 2.05 per cent to $4.31; South Port NZ shed 13c to $7.47; Foley Wines was down 3c or 2.4 per cent to $1.22; Solution Dynamics shed 5c or 2.94 per cent to $1.65; and Move Logistics fell 5c or 7.25 per cent to 64c.
Infratil was up 14c to $10.30; Sky TV gained 5c or 2.16 per cent to $2.37; SkyCity Entertainment picked up 1c to $2.03; Skellerup Holdings gained 9c or 2.09 per cent to $4.39; and Vector increased 6c to $3.92.
Sanford increased 10c or 2.57 per cent to $3.99; Channel Infrastructure added 6c or 3.92 per cent to $1.59; Smartpay Holdings rose 7c or 4.52 per cent to $1.62; Scott Technology gained 6c or 1.91 per cent to $3.20; and Cooks Coffee improved 0.006c or 3.09 per cent to 20c.
There were no bids above the reserve price for 15 million carbon units offered at the third quarter auction, and they will roll over to the December auction when a higher reserve will apply.
Before the next auction, the uncertainty over how forestry credits will be counted is likely to be sorted. The current price of carbon units is $71 a tonne, and the Carbon Fund share price was up 1c to $1.84.
The latest NZX statistics showed total trades on the market in August fell 11.4 per cent to 695,019 but the value traded was up 0.8 per cent to $2.658 billion. The average on-market trade size was $2,196, an increase of 9.1 per cent.
Total capital listed and raised was $1.835b, down 34.1 per cent, and totalling $9.856b for the year to date. NZX’s share price was up 2c to $1.16.
