Metlifecare sale and Syria attack send share prices lower

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 45.78 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 7243.75.

New Zealand shares fell today as investors probably freed up funds to buy Metlifecare after Infratil sold its stake, and on jitters after the US launched cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase in response to a recent chemical attack.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 45.78 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 7243.75. Within the index, 13 stocks gained, 28 fell and nine were unchanged. Turnover was unusually heavy, at $405.94 million.

Infratil added 1.2 per cent to $3 a share after news that it had sold its cornerstone stake in Metlifecare for $237.9m, generating an annual return of 15.5 per cent over the three-and-a-half years it held shares of the retirement village operator and developer.

"It does give it a fairly large cash stockpile to maybe look at other opportunities. It will be interesting to see what it has in mind for those funds," said James Smalley, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. Metlifecare shed 4.5 per cent to $5.80.

He said most of the declines were in the "heavier end of town", with large caps losing ground, such as Contact Energy, which shed 1.7 per cent to $5.17 and Auckland International Airport,which fell 1.5 per cent to $6.70. Tourism Holdings ended down 1.9 per cent at $3.55 while Meridian shed 1.9 per cent to $2.895.

"The need to raise funds to take up some of that Metlifecare purchase may have led to a bit of selling across the market," he said. "It's fairly large in the context of our market and could be a factor in why the bourse is where it is at the moment."

In the other direction, the biggest gainer on the day was Tegel Group, up 4.3 per cent to $1.21 as investors were cheered after it told a food and beverage conference in Sydney on Thursday that it is well-positioned for export growth and reiterated its full-year guidance.

Smalley said the presentation may have "helped regain some confidence in the stock". Tegel shares have fallen lately on concerns that ample chicken supplies would stifle earnings.

Comvita added 2.5 per cent to $6.97 "as a few bargain-hunters are stepping in, thinking the sell-down is overdone", he said.

The shares slumped earlier in the week after the manuka honey company warned it will post an operational loss this year due to weaker than expected trading and as a poor season dents the honey harvest in New Zealand.

Looking ahead, Smalley said investors will be watching for the "reaction from the Russians" after US President Donald Trump said he ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched, declaring he acted in America's "national security interest" against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"It does add an element of macro-uncertainty and that may have led investors to sit on the sidelines toward the end of the week," he added.