“Our Reserve Bank is looking at record rate hikes to control inflation and this has driven demand for the NZ dollar. One of the key drivers for currency is interest rate differential and if that is not going to increase in the US as fast as in New Zealand, then attention turns to our dollar,” Sullivan said.
Markets are treading water as they wait for the result of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting on December 13 and 14 where a 50-basis points rate rise is expected, rather than 75 basis points.
The November NZX statistics showed total equity trades fell 40.2 per cent to 776,922 and value trade was down 22.4 per cent to $3.19 billion. The average on-market trade size was $2458, up 16.7 per cent.
Sullivan said “we’ve been having a buyers’ strike – they are sitting on their hands waiting for the market to turnaround.”
The number of trades for the year to date were 10.91 million, down 24 per cent, and total value traded was $34.67b, down 28.5 per cent. Total capital listed and raised in November was $2.12b and for the year $19.88m, an increase of 17.9 per cent.
A sense of early Christmas spending will be provided when the latest electronic card payment figures are released on Friday.
The ANZ World Commodity Price Index was down 3.9 per cent in November, and in local currency terms it fell 9.1 per cent as the NZ dollar strengthened 4.6 per cent against the trade weighted index. The largest falls were in meat and fibre. US crude oil was trading at US$80.69 a barrel.
Synlait Milk was one of the day’s biggest movers, rising 22c or 6.92 per cent to $3.40 after Macquarie Group upgraded its target price of $3.41.
In the dividend-yielding energy and property sectors, Contact was up 15c or 1.96 per cent to $7.80; Mercury added 8.5c to $5.64; and Meridian added 5c to $5.03. Stride Property gained 4c or 2.76 per cent to $1.49, and Vital Healthcare Trust increased 5c or 2.13 per cent to $2.40.
Vulcan Steel gained 24c or 2.73 per cent to $9.04; Eftpos provider Smartpay rose 8.5c or 8.29 per cent to $1.11; Pacific Edge was up 1.5c or 2.26 per cent to $6.50; Accordant Group increased 4c or 2.29 per cent to $1.79; and Rua Bioscience collected 1c or 4.17 per cent to 25c.
Publisher and broadcaster NZME increased 1c or 4.2 per cent to $1.20 after telling the market it supports the Government’s plan to introduce legislation requiring global digital platforms such as Google and Meta (Facebook) to pay New Zealand media for publishing their news online. NZME had earlier reached a deal with Google and Facebook.
Hospitality groups sprung into life for the festive season, with Savor rising 3c or 8.57 per cent to 38c and Good Spirits gaining 0.006c or 16.67 per cent to 4.2c respectively.
Software firm Blackpearl Group, which listed as Black Pearl Group on Friday at $1.25, fell a further 34c or 31.48 per cent to 74c on 39 trades worth $41,864. Blackpearl has immediately gone from a market capitalisation of $40m to $26m.
“How it got a valuation of $40m, I’m not sure,” said Sullivan. “Blackpearl hasn’t done a lot of investment and it just deals with email signatures. The next buyers are bidding at 60c a share.”
Restaurant Brands was down 15c or 2.26 per cent to $6.50; Skellerup Holdings decreased 15c or 2.63 per cent to $5.55; Vista Group fell 5c or 3.16 per cent to $1.53; and Serko was down 5c or 1.89 per cent to $2.60.
Three stocks reached new lows. Move Logistics was down 3c or 3.16 per cent to 92c after reaching $1.95 on November 19 last year; Rakon declined 3c or 2.56 per cent to $1.14 after hitting $2.22 in early January; and Eroad fell 7c or 5.65 per cent to $1.17 after peaking at $5.52 on December 17 last year.
ArborGen Holdings’ Andrew Baum is stepping down as chief executive once a successor has been recruited. Baum oversaw the transition of ArborGen from a forestry biotechnology company to a leading commercial provider of advanced genetics tree seedling products in the US and Brazil. Arbor Gen’s share price was down 0.005c or 2.22 per cent to 22c.
