Trump keeps markets jittery, NZ sharemarket falls

The S&P/NZX fell 0.79% as investors remained cautious. Photo / NZME

Investors are sitting on their hands as they continue to wade through the constant news flow from the US White House.

New Zealand’s benchmark index, the S&P/NZX 50, fell 0.79% to 12,011.34 on Tuesday, with decliners outnumbering gainers 88 to 46.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene, highlighted another day of low volumes as traders struggle to separate the signal from the noise.

“Dominated by concentrated trading of larger index constituents, market volumes reached 22.9 million shares, amounting to $100.2m in total value traded.

“As the rules keep changing, the goal posts keep shifting, sometimes the most prudent thing you can do is a wait-and-see approach,” Sullivan said.

Movers

NZME shares fell 2.73% to $1.07 on low volumes after company director David Gibson resigned with immediate effect for “personal reasons”.

The resignation came as the media company’s incumbent board is being challenged by one of its significant shareholders, Jim Grenon, to remove the entire board.

Manawa Energy shares rose 0.64% to $4.75 after the company released its fourth-quarter operating report on Monday.

In an investor note on Tuesday, Forsyth Barr analysts Andrew Harvey-Green and Hugh Lockwood said they expected Manawa Energy to report full earnings towards the bottom end of its revised guidance range.

In February, Manawa downgraded its expected earnings for the year to March 31, 2025, to be in the range of $80m to $95m.

“Continued low hydro inflows and calm conditions reduced hydro generation and wind offtake volumes, which came in below already low expectations,” the analysts said.

The Commerce Commission has said it will release its decision on whether Contact Energy can take over Manawa Energy on May 9.

Port of Tauranga shares fell 2.84% to $6.15 after it lodged an application to fast-track its proposed development of Stella Passage, which will convert existing cargo storage land into useable berths.

Ebos Group continued its rally after closing its capital raise’s $217m placement on Friday. Shares were up 1.23% to $37.15, with $8.1m in value traded.

The country’s largest listed company, Fisher & Paykel, dominated the trading volumes with nearly $20m worth of equities changing hands. Shares fell 0.74% to $33.35 and are trading 15.6% below their 52-week high.

The company has been directly affected by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs due to its manufacturing facilities in Mexico.

Though exposed for different reasons, a similar story has played out at Mainfreight, which fell another 1.11% to $57.79 on Tuesday and is 21.4% down for the year.

Global markets

After saying consumer electronics imported into the US from China might avoid the steepest tariffs over the weekend, Trump said on Monday he was “looking at something to help [North American] car companies”.

That was followed by the US launching a national security probe that could lead to tariffs on chips and pharmaceutical goods.

At 5pm, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.20%, and Japan’s benchmark, the Nikkei 225, was up 0.98%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up nearly 0.26%, helping its weekly gains to 11.5%.S&P 500 futures were trading down less than 1% after the index gained 0.79% on Monday’s trading.

Sullivan said that while international markets were less volatile than they had been over the last couple of weeks, businesses and investors were still too hesitant to make moves.

“For business, it makes it very difficult to make long-term capital allocation. Investors are like businesses. They’re looking for certainty.”