NZ sharemarket steady as Australian regulator clears path for Fonterra consumer arm sale - Market close

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says it will not oppose French dairy giant Lactalis BSA’s proposed acquisition of Fonterra’s consumer, dairy ingredients and food service businesses. Photo / AFP

The NZ sharemarket was virtually flat today, while the Australian competition regulator gave some good news to a potential buyer of Fonterra’s consumer business.

On the main board, the S&P/NZX 50 Index closed down 0.07% or 8.409 points, falling to 12,760.20, with 29,064,025 shares changing hands to the value of $96 million.

The S&P/NZX 20 index closed at 7464.50, down 0.11%, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,397.43, a fall of 0.18%.

There were 74 gainers on the main board and 60 decliners.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it wouldn’t oppose French dairy giant Lactalis BSA’s proposed acquisition of Fonterra’s consumer, dairy ingredients and food service businesses.

Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said the sale buyers were all lining up.

“Fonterra will be very pleased I’m sure, and of course you’ve got Bega Cheese eyeing the Oceania business, so clearly plenty of interest there,” Sullivan said.

“I’m sure the NZX would prefer it if they did list, but Fonterra will be weighing up their options. The ACCC green light is another feather in their cap for a competitive bidding process for Mainland of which the more bidders, the higher the price, and Fonterra will be very pleased.”

The Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund – which gives investors outside the dairy co-operative access to its dividends without having voting rights – rose 1c to $6.59.

Meanwhile, a2 Milk’s share price fell again. Sullivan said its shares had dropped roughly 10% in value in the past week.

A2 Milk fell 12c to $7.92 after 227,063 shares changed hands to the value of $1,789,672.82.

Elsewhere, property companies performed well, including Goodman Property and Stride Property.

Goodman’s share price rose 2.48% to $2.07, with 478,687 shares worth $988,737.28 traded.

Stride’s share price rose 1.67% to $1.22, with 1,504,908 shares worth $1,834,988.42 changing hands.

“As people search for value on our boards, those real estate companies are trading at larger discounts to their NTA [net tangible assets] with attractive dividend yields, so investors are seeing plenty of value there.”

IkeGPS Group announced an equity raise of up to A$20.0 million ($21.8m).

Proceeds from the equity raising will be used to fund new product development to maintain and extend Ike’s market leadership, accelerate sales and boost marketing efforts.

In the US, the Nasdaq vaulted to a fresh record on Wednesday local time, shrugging off new tariff threats from President Donald Trump as Nvidia became the first company to touch US$4 trillion ($6.65t) in market valuation.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index ended at 20,611.34, up 0.9% and about 10 points above the prior all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% to 44,458.30, while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.6% to 6,263.26.

The rally came as Trump unveiled a fresh set of letters to seven more countries in the President’s latest move to reapply pressure to trading partners.

However, investors appeared more stirred by Nvidia’s latest surge, which was prompted by optimism about further growth in artificial intelligence.

The chip company finished up 1.8%, topping US$4t in market value early in the session before retreating somewhat.

Nvidia is a “nice kind of signpost for momentum traders and investors”, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

“And that just continues to fuel the AI momentum trade too.”

– Additional reporting AFP

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.