NZX down 0.3% as world waits for Iranian response - Market close

Emergency workers respond to the site of a missile strike in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood of Tel Aviv on yesterday in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel was hit with a fresh wave of aerial attacks by Iran after the US entered the war overnight and bombed several Iranian nuclear sites. (Photo by Erik Marmor/Getty Images)

The New Zealand sharemarket fell on Monday after the United States launched strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities over the long weekend.

The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index dropped 0.29% to 12,532.65 points with 38 million shares worth $135.7m changing hands.

On his Truth Social media platform, US President Donald Trump said the Sunday air strikes did “monumental damage” to Iran’s Natanz, Fordo and Isfahan nuclear sites.

Peter Sigley, director of institutional sales at Forsyth Barr, said US actions in Iran had created “plenty of uncertainty” for investors, but that markets were waiting for more information.“

The inclination is not to do too much until you get a lead from elsewhere,” he said.

“The retaliation might take a few days to come through, and then the focus would be on the nature of the retaliation, whether it seemed to be something quite meaningful. There are some pretty scary scenarios around.”

The index

In NZ equity markets, Sigley said investors were looking forward to Fletcher Buildings’ investor day on Tuesday, stating that the expectation is that the firm will set various benchmarks for itself to fulfill over the coming years.

Fletcher Building stocks fell 1.6% to $3.08 after it and its joint venture partner, Acciona, reached a settlement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Northern Express Group over Covid-related delays to the construction of the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway.

“This is just another example of the new management working their way through the legacy issues that the company’s been facing,” he said.

Earlier this month, SkyCity Entertainment Group said it would file legal proceedings against Fletcher’s for losses due to delays in the completion of the NZ International Convention Centre.

SkyCity shares jumped 3.3% to close the day at 94 cents, six cents above its 52-week low.

Spark shares lifted 0.87% to $2.32 after it announced it had realised A$43m (NZ$47m) from the sale of its 10% stake in Hutchison Telecommunications Australia (HTA).

The telco said the transaction would close in July, with the funds used to reduce debt, which increased by $297m to $2.74 billion in the first half of the financial year.

Sigley also highlighted that Ryman Healthcare had “surprised” markets by announcing Matthew Prior would take over from Rob Woodgate as the company’s chief financial officer.

“[Prior] has been helping the company out with bits and pieces strategy-wise recently, and the previous CFO is going to stick around for a while to help with the handover. It looks like it’s been pretty well handled,” Sigley said.

Ryman shares dipped 1.79% to $2.20 on volumes amounting to nearly $5m in value traded.

Small-caps up

Outside the index, eftpos and payment solution provider Smartpay announced that United States-based firm Shift4 has offered $1.20 cents per share (cps) in a takeover offer.

The transaction price, unanimously backed by Smartpay’s board, represented a 20% premium to Smartpay’s $1.00 heading into the long weekend. The stock rose 11.44% to $1.12.

Sigley highlighted that the bid was 20% higher than a separate offer made by the Australian firm Tyro Payments back in March.

“It looks like the board’s done a pretty good job for shareholders there,” he said.

Software company Trade Window announced it raised $600,000 in new equity in a private placement to new investors “to accelerate its growth and strengthen its balance sheet”. The stock dipped 0.57% to 17.4 cents.

“There’s a bit of appetite for their scrip around as they slowly work their way towards achieving profitability,” Sigley said. “It looks like they’ve got revenue coming in the door, so they’ll live to fight another day.”