NZ shares sail through choppy waters as Nvidia spooks global investors - Market close

The NZ sharemarket fared better than many of its Asian peers.

New Zealand shares rose, outperforming Asian stock markets, as a slump in US chipmaker Nvidia weighed worldwide tech stocks, which aren’t a big feature on the local bourse.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index advanced 18.84 points, or 0.2%, to 12,553.35. Across the main board, 41 rose, 93 stocks fell, and 45 were unchanged. Turnover was $126.6 million, of which Infratil accounted for $15.1m, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare $14.7m and Auckland International Airport $13.9m as investors sought out local blue-chip companies.

Wall Street set a muted tone for global stock markets as Nvidia sank 9.5% – wiping US$279 billion off its market capitalisation – as soft US manufacturing data stoked fears the world’s biggest economy may be on the turn and sapping optimism about the artificial intelligence boom. Reports that Nvidia had been subpoenaed in US authorities’ ongoing antitrust probes added to the gloom.

Still, NZ’s market fared better than many of its Asian peers as the dominance of blue-chip companies paying reliable dividends offered comfort to nervous investors.

Meanwhile, slowing Australian growth would likely dampen any appetite the Reserve Bank of Australia retained to hike its target cash rate further, which was an active consideration at last month’s rate review, adding to the lustre of firms offering higher dividend yields to investors.

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“The rally in our market this afternoon will be because Australian GDP growth was slower than expected,” said Jeremy Sullivan, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene. “Rate rises will be off the table.”

The attraction of companies paying reliable dividends remained even after some shed rights to those payments. Vital Healthcare Property Trust, which shed rights to its 2.44 cents per share dividend today, rose 1.7% to an adjusted price of $2.01, leading the benchmark index higher. Its 4.2 million units traded was also the largest volume.

Of other companies going ex-dividend today, Meridian Energy rose 1.6% to an adjusted $6.12 after shedding rights to its 14.85 cent dividend on a volume of 1.1 million, while Goodman Property Trust declined 0.2% to an adjusted $2.085 having shed rights to its 1.63 cent dividend and Stride Property fell 0.7% to $1.42, shedding rights to the 2 cent dividend across its stapled securities.

Infratil rose 0.6% to $11.27 on a volume of 1.4 million. The infrastructure investment firm’s CDC Data Centres investment has been a standout in recent years, and the A$23.5b sale of Australia’s data centre group AirTrunk to Blackstone was another sign of the appetite for those types of investments.

F&P Healthcare rose for a fourth day, up 1.5% to $37.47. The medical devices maker has been rallying since raising its annual earnings outlook last month.

Auckland Airport advanced 0.4% to $7.49 on a volume of 1.9 million.

Local tech companies were broadly weaker with the Nvidia selloff. Vista Group International declined 1.9% to $3.03, Serko fell 1.2% to $3.30, Gentrack was down 0.9% at $10.33 and Eroad slipped 1.6% to $1.26.

KMD Brands posted the day’s biggest decline on the benchmark index, falling 3.6% to 53c, while Westpac Banking Corp fell 3.4% to $33.56.

Fletcher Building remained under pressure, falling 3.5% to $2.77, Ryman Healthcare dropped 3.1% to $4.73 and Tourism Holdings declined 2.9% to $2.02.

Delegat Group fell 2.6% to $5.60. Global beverages group Constellation Brands downgraded its earnings outlook, citing a soft North American wine market, which is a key target for the NZ winemaker. Foley Wines rose 1.2% to 82c.

Among companies shedding rights to their dividends on Thursday, Sky Network Television advanced 0.7% to $2.80, Kiwi Property Group rose 1% to 97c, Channel Infrastructure increased 0.6% to $1.72, Steel & Tube Holdings gained 2% to $1.03, and Vector edged up 0.3% to $3.89, while Precinct Properties NZ declined 0.8% to $1.33 and Heartland Group Holdings slipped 0.9% to $1.11.