Market close: Short-lived joy on markets as NZ stocks fall again

Spark was down 3.5c to $4.74. Photo / NZME

The New Zealand sharemarket had another fall, dragged down by several leading stocks going ex-dividend. Its welcome half a per cent gain the day before was short-lived.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was on a gradual slide and closed at 11,313.53, down 43.58 points or 0.38 per cent. The index has fallen on 10 of the last 12 trading days.

There were 61 gainers and 64 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 29.34 million share transactions worth $103.52 million.

David McConnochie, an investment adviser with Forsyth Barr, said it was another heavy day for income-generating stocks going ex-dividend.

“Generally, the dividend [payout] is shed from the headline share price, and the income part of the market is delivering to shareholders. But maybe there has been a bit of offshore selling over the last few weeks because of the strong US dollar,” he said.

“The local market is in a holding pattern waiting for the election off the back of the reporting season, and it has had a lot to digest lately with the release of the pre-election economic and fiscal update.”

The New Zealand dollar was trading at US59.28c against the American greenback, and US crude oil continued to stay high at US$88.41 a barrel. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.49 per cent to 7189.2 points at 6pm NZT.

United States inflation was slightly hotter than expected. Core inflation, stripping out energy and food, was 4.3 per cent after the August Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.3 per cent against an expected 0.2 per cent. Core inflation fell from 4.6 per cent in July, and from 6.6 per cent a year ago.

Annual headline inflation was 3.7 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent in the year ending July and more than the expected 3.6 per cent. In August the CPI rose 0.6 per cent, the biggest monthly gain of the year, with oil prices reaching nine-month highs.

Food prices in New Zealand continued to rise. They increased 0.5 per cent in August compared with the previous month and were 8.9 per cent higher for the year. The increases were across the board - grocery up 10.6 per cent, dining 8.9 per cent, meat and fish 8 per cent, non-alcoholic beverage 9.1 per cent and fruit and vegetables 5.4 per cent.

Local stocks going ex-dividend were Spark, down 3.5 cents to $4.74; Fletcher Building declining 8c or 1.76 per cent to $4.46; Freightways gaining 10c to $8.62; Tourism Holdings up 1c to $3.70; NZME shedding 1c to 91c; and PGG Wrightson decreasing 9c or 2.47 per cent to 3.55.

Ebos Group was down $1.04 or 2.84 per cent to $35.61; Fisher and Paykel Healthcare declined 23c to $21.52; Mainfreight decreased 52c to $66.28; Comvita shed 7c or 2.17 per cent to $3.16; and Napier Port was down 4c to $2.29.

In the property sector, Vital Healthcare Trust fell 5c or 2.36 per cent to $2.07; Kiwi was down 2c or 2.33 per cent to 84c; Argosy was up 2.5c or 2.28 per cent to $1.12; and Property for Industry gained 4c or 1.78 per cent to $2.285.

In the retail sector, Briscoe Group was up a further 5c to $4.66 following its solid half-year result; The Warehouse gained 7c or 4.19 per cent to $1.74; and Hallenstein Glasson was down 10c to $5.75.

Auckland International Airport was down 8c to $7.85 after reporting a 27 per cent increase in passenger volumes to nearly 1.48 million in July - 84 per cent of July 2018, the last full year before Covid struck. In August, total passengers increased 29 per cent to 1.45 million - 87 per cent of the pre-Covid level.

Other decliners were Vulcan Steel down 14c to $8.95; Eroad falling 5c or 6.67 per cent to 70c; South Port NZ shedding 22c or 2.95 per cent to $7.25; CDL Investments decreasing 3c or 4.11 per cent to 70c; Steel & Tube giving up 4c or 3.39 per cent to $1.14; and 2 Cheap Cars down 2c or 3.17 per cent to 61c.

Other gainers were Serko up 5c to $3.90; Sanford increasing 6c to $4.03; Booster Innovation gaining 5c or 3.29 per cent to $1.57; Pacific Edge adding 0.009c or 8.11 per cent to 12c; MHM Automation collecting 2c or 2.06 per cent to 99c; and Just Life also up 2c or 5.41 per cent to 39c.

Cinema management software firm Vista Group, down 2c to $1.57, made a presentation to investors in Los Angeles and talked about the future of its AI-enabled cloud platform and “premiumisation” of luxury auditoriums and seating, extended dining and enhanced technology.

Vista, which has a 50 per cent global market share, said AI would boost movie-goer engagement, including dynamic pricing and operational efficiencies such as scheduling and labour management.Vista expected its annualised recurring revenue to increase 15 per cent and more from 2025.

Smartpay Holdings, down 3c or 1.82 per cent to $1.62, said in its investor presentation that it was introducing an android merchandising terminal in Australia this year and in New Zealand next year. Smartpay has 46,000 terminals in the market, up 14 per cent for the year.

Cannasouth, unchanged at 22c, told the market it has exported its first shipment of cannabis-based pharmaceutical ingredient to Australia.