NZ shares fall as blue chips take a breather

Sky Network Television CEO Martin Stewart. Photo / File

New Zealand shares fell in light holiday trading as blue-chip stocks including Auckland International Airport, Spark New Zealand and A2 Milk ended the day weaker. Retirement village stocks continued to gain with Metlifecare's takeover one step closer.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index decreased 40.66 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 11,602.12. Within the index, 24 stocks fell, 18 rose, and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $46.2 million, with just Arvida Group trading on a volume of more than a million shares.

The benchmark index was the worst performer among Asia Pacific markets tracked by Refinitiv. The NZX50 is still up almost 32 per cent so far this year and is on track for its best run in a calendar year since the measure was created in 2003.

"It's been a fantastic year and I don't think too many people in the fourth quarter of last year would have thought there would be a 30 per cent run on the bourse," said Jeremy Sullivan, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

Sky Network Television led the market lower, down 2.6 per cent at 74 cents on a volume of 311,000 shares, less than a third of its 1.2 million share average the past three months. Auckland Airport fell 2.2 per cent to $9, Spark declined 1.6 per cent to $4.375, Fletcher Building dropped 2.3 per cent to $5.17, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare dipped 0.8 per cent to $22.30.

A2 Milk was down 1.2 per cent at $15.20 and Synlait Milk fell 1.1 per cent to $8.89.

Metlifecare extended its trading halt until Monday, with its mystery suitor needing the weekend to get approval for a $7 per share takeover offer via a scheme implementation agreement. The shares last traded at $6.38.

Other retirement village operators continued to be buoyed by the takeover prospect, with Arvida hitting a record $2. It closed at $1.93 up 5.5 per cent, on a volume of 1.1 million shares, more than twice its 486,000 average.

Oceania Healthcare posted the day's biggest gain, up 5.7 per cent at $1.30 on a volume of 677,000 shares, more than its 439,000 average.

Summerset Group advanced 4.7 per cent to $8.90 and Ryman Healthcare increased 0.2 per cent to $16.84.

Restaurant Brands New Zealand was up 3 per cent at $13.72 on a volume of 4,268, shares, about a tenth of its 42,000 average. The fastfood operator this week announced a US$73m ($109.3m) acquisition of KFC and Taco Bell stores in California.

Retailers were mixed after Paymark figures showed a small increase in retail sales on Boxing Day across merchants using its system. Warehouse fell 0.4 per cent to $2.84, Briscoe Group was down 0.3 per cent at $3.83, and Kathmandu Holdings decreased 0.6 per cent to $3.33. Hallenstein Glasson rose 0.5 per cent to $6.15 and Smiths City Group was unchanged at 25 cents.