“The New Zealand economy is still relatively weak with the rate cutting cycle yet to flow through. It will take a bit of time before people start loosening their purse strings and start spending again,” Sullivan said.
In the United States, there was another bounce-back with the Dow Jones Industrial Average increasing 0.85% to 41,841.63 after February retail sales weren’t as bad as expected. Sales increased 0.2% against the Dow Jones estimate of 0.6% gain.
The S&P 500 was up 0.64% to 5675.12 points and the technology-driven Nasdaq Composite was still in correction territory even though it gained 0.31% to 17,808.66. The Nasdaq was at 20,026.77 points in mid-February.
Investors in the US and elsewhere are struggling to keep pace with President Donald Trump’s fast-changing tariff policies, along with the aggressive cost-cutting by Elon Musk’s Doge department, that have raised worries about corporate and consumer confidence.
Back home, there was profit-taking in a2 Milk, down 36c or 3.7% to $9.36, and Spark gained 1.5c to $2.075.
Serko fell 12c or 3.17% to $3.67; Summerset was down 20c to $11.66; Briscoe Group shed 10c or 2.17% to $64.50; KMD Brands decreased 1.5c or 4% to 36c; Napier Port declined 5c or 1.89% to $2.60; and Mainfreight eased 90c to $65.85.
SkyCity fell 5c or 4.07% to $1.18; Sky TV was down 7c or 2.89% to $2.35; Sanford declined 10c or 2.1% to $4.66; Tourism Holdings decreased 4c or 2.35% to $1.66; NZX shed 3.9c or 2.5% to $1.52; and Rakon was down 2c or 3.64% to 53c.
Smartpay, considering two takeover bids, increased 3c or 3.53% to 88c; NZME was up 4c or 3.54% to $1.17; Foley Wines added 3c or 4.55% to 69c; and Scott Technology gained 56c or 2.7% to $1.90.
Synlait Milk collected 2c or 2.11% to 97c; Green Cross Health improved 2c or 2.5% to 82c; and 2 Cheap Cars was up 2c or 2.7% to 76c.
Contact Energy was down 8c to $8.52 after following Meridian in reporting low hydro lakes. South Island controlled storage was 71% of mean and North Island 98% on March 13.
Mass market electricity and gas sales in February were 237GWh compared with 252GWh in the same month last year.
Contact told the market that its consent application for the 330MW, 55-turbine Southland Wind Farm has been declined by the expert consenting panel convened under the Covid-19 Recovery Act 2020.
Chief executive Mike Fuge said the decision, which can be appealed, was a significant setback for New Zealand’s decarbonisation and Contact’s mission to improve electricity security of supply.
Elsewhere in the energy sector, Mercury was down 7c to $5.55; Manawa declined 13c or 2.71% to $4.67; and Vector decreased 8c or 12.95% to $4.02.
Carpet maker Bremworth increased 3c or 5% to 63c after changing its board following shareholder pressure. Rob Hewett, now chairing Silver Fern Farms and Bremworth, Julie Bohnenn, Murray Dyer and Trevor Burt replace Paul Izzard, Katherine Turner and Dianne Williams. George Adams and John Rae are staying as directors.
The new directors come on board straight away and will need to stand for election at the next annual meeting. A special meeting to consider board changes is no longer required.
Auckland International Airport was down 6c to $7.87 after announcing that French company Lagardere will operate the four duty-free stores in arrivals and departures for the next eight years.
Lagardere, with duty-free operations in 28 countries and 105 airports, has been running the Auckland stores in a joint venture with AWPL, trading as Aelia Duty Free.
Tower last traded at $1.457, went into a trading halt while it returned $45m to shareholders through cancelling one share for every 10 shares held.
