Sharemarket slips in thin holiday trade

Shares in teleco network operator Chorus dropped 2.6 per cent to $4.16 yesturday Photo / Sarah Ivey.

Less taste for attractive dividend yields.

New Zealand shares slipped in thin holiday trading as appetite declined for companies offering attractive dividend yields, such as regulated utilities Chorus and Genesis Energy and pay-TV operator Sky Network Television.

The S&P/NZX 50 index dropped 20 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8376.43. Within the index, 25 stocks fell, 16 gained, and nine were unchanged. Turnover was a light $65.8 million.

Electricity generator-retailer Genesis Energy led the benchmark index lower, falling 2.7 per cent to $2.46. Telecommunications network operator Chorus dropped 2.6 per cent to $4.16, power company Mercury NZ fell 2.2 per cent to $3.355 and Sky TV declined 2.1 per cent to $2.78.

"Some of the interest-rate-sensitive stocks, such as Chorus, Mercury and Sky, are down — they're the ones dragging the market down into the close," said Shane Solly at Harbour Asset Management.

"What we've seen globally, led out of the US, is long-term bond yields creep up slightly from being very low," Solly said, "and we're seeing people think about what will happen in the next 12 months."

Still, he said, trading was very light because of the holiday period.

Kiwi Property Group posted the biggest gain of the day, up 2.5 per cent to $2.145, followed by retirement village operator Summerset Group, which rose 2.2 per cent to $5.50.

Tourism Holdings was up 2.1 per cent to $5.77. The rental campervan operator last week said it expected net profit to be boosted by US tax cuts.

Fast food operator Restaurant Brands New Zealand gained 1.4 per cent to $7.15. Paymark figures yesterday showed retail spending increased 6.4 per cent on Boxing Day from a year earlier, with spending at fast-food outlets up 16 per cent.

Trade Me, the online auction site, fell 0.4 per cent to $4.78, while outside the benchmark index Briscoe Group rose 1.8 per cent to $3.33, Warehouse Group gained 1.5 per cent to $2.09 and Kathmandu was unchanged at $2.40.

Augusta Capital was unchanged at $1.065 per cent after the real estate funds management firm secured a second property for a planned industrial fund to be launched next year.

AFT Pharmaceuticals closed unchanged at $2.39 after the drug-maker said it had licensed its Maxigesic painkiller to Mexico, the 125th licensed country for the drug.

Among leading stocks, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was unchanged at $14.14, Auckland International Airport slipped 0.2 per cent to $6.56, a2 Milk Co gained 0.4 per cent to $8.16, Meridian Energy fell 0.5 per cent to $2.915, Spark New Zealand was unchanged at $3.62 and Fletcher Building dropped 0.4 per cent to $7.65. Xero fell 1 per cent to $31.40.