Steady trading updates not enough to stop sharemarket falling - Market close

Sanford shed 7c or 1.78% to $3.86.

Leading companies Mainfreight and Summerset Group provided steady trading updates but it wasn’t enough to stop the New Zealand sharemarket falling nearly 0.5%.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed at 12,555.99, down 40.88 points or 0.33% after a mid-afternoon dip when markets faltered on the news that China was not delivering further economic stimulus.

The index reached an intraday high of 12,607.03 points, and there were 33.39 million share transactions worth $123.9 million.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/NZX 200 Index had fallen 0.26% to 8184.2 points on a sell-off in mining stocks and a weaker iron ore price. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was down 5.58% to 21,810 points.

There was a sell-off on Wall Street as bond yields increased and the oil price went over US$77 a barrel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.94% to 41,954.24 points; S&P 500 declined 0.96% to 5695.99; and Nasdaq Composite fell 1.18% to 17,923.9.

Mainfreight was down 35c to $70.05 after reporting an 8.5% increase in estimated revenue to $2.55 billion and 9.3% fall in gross profit to $158.5m for the six months ending September – with Australia being a standout.

Mainfreight said in an investor day presentation that trading is expected to improve in the second half with gains in customers and volumes. Mainfreight’s Australian revenue increased 19.3% to A$754.92m ($829.77m) and gross profit was up 7.6% to A$60.8m.

New Zealand revenue was $557.83m, up 0.2%, and gross profit $46.38m, down 24.1%. Americas revenue increased 6.2% to US$345.03m ($563.55m) but gross profit declined 32.1% to US$8.14m ($13.29m). Europe revenue was €294.57m ($528.21m), up 4.4%, and gross profit €13.24m ($23.74m), an increase of 5.5%.

Greg Smith, head of retail with Devon Funds Management, said Mainfreight’s run-rate has improved but “it’s still a bit below what the market was looking for and there were no forecasts”.

“Mainfreight is adjusting to a normalisation of margins but that’s been the case for some time,” he said.

Summerset Group, down 6c to $12.09, reported 289 sales for the three months ending September, comprising 129 new sales and 160 resales. The sales were up 11% compared with the same period last year and resales increased 26% year-on-year. Summerset said it had 15 villages selling new homes around the country.

Smith said Summerset is displaying resilience and gave an outlook that was quite positive. “It is still taking prospective residents longer to sell their own homes because of the housing market, and Summerset is entering an important period selling units at the just-completed St Johns Village in Auckland.”

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 73c or 2.11% to $35.35; Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund increased 15c or 3.13% to $4.95; Napier Port collected 6c or 2.74% to $2.25; and PGG Wrightson improved 12c or 6.74% to $1.90.

Leading banks ANZ gained 94c or 2.88% to $33.55, and Westpac increased $1 or 2.94% to $35.

Ebos Group was down 54c to $36.75; Spark shed 6c or 1.92% to $3.06; Meridian eased 8c to $5.92; and a2 Milk declined 18c or 2.56% to $6.86 on the back of the latest Chinese stimulus disappointment.

Other gainers were NZX up 5c or 3.85% to $1.35; CDL Investments increasing 4c or 5.33% to 79c; Winton Land adding 4c or 2.11% to $1.94; and Rakon improving 4c or 6.35% to 67c.

Blackpearl Group rebounded 9c or 6.98% to $1.38; Accordant Group was up 2c or 4.35% to 48c; and NZ King Salmon Investments gained 1.5c or 6.38% to 25c.

In the property sector, Goodman Trust declined 4c or 1.88% to $2.08, and Precinct was down 3c or 2.34% to $1.25.

Delegat Group was up 2c to $5.50. The wine exporter said its managing director Steven Carden was stepping down on January 31 and chief financial officer Murray Annabell will be the acting chief executive until a replacement is found.

Infratil was down 31c or 2.51% to $12.04; Seeka decreased 8c or 3.01% to $2.58; Sanford shed 7c or 1.78% to $3.86; The Warehouse declined 5c or 4.2% to $1.14; and Santana Minerals eased 5c or 1.99% to $2.46.

Other decliners were Eroad down 5c or 4.63% to $1.03; Allied Farmers falling 3c or 3.95% to 73c; T&G Global shedding 4c or 2.67% to $1.46; Being AI decreasing 2c or 3.39% to 57c; and Savor down 2c or 8.33% to 22c.

Move Logistics, up 1c or 5% to 21c, has sold its vessel, Atlas Wind, for US$1.1m (NZ$1.8m).

Radius Residential Care, up 0.002c to 16.5c, has bought a 51% shareholding in Cibus Catering for $1.9m, including the 24% stake held by Valhalla Capital, which is associated with Radius executive chair Brian Cree. Cibus caters for the aged care sector.