New Zealand’s market dragged its feet today because the long-awaiting earnings season is just days away and investors aren’t keen to make any big moves until the listed companies’ earnings results are in.
The S&P/NZX 50 index fell 25.66 points, or 0.2%, to 11,702.81. Turnover on the main board was just $74.9 million.
Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners said NZ’s market was extremely quiet today as the earnings reporting from US companies over the past couple of weeks was in its “final throes” and the market was in limbo until NZ’s earnings season kicked off.
“The market is going to have to cope with a little less information which may mean – potentially – it may trade sideways over the coming weeks,” he said.
South Port shares were up 2.7% to $8.50 on the news that it had contracted a construction company to remove fragmented rock that has been in the port entrance channel after previous dredging campaigns for the last 40 years.
The port said that blasting of the channel done in the 1980s left some fragmented rock unable to be retrieved due to the engineering limitations of dredging machinery available at the time.
Aged care facility provider Ryman Healthcare fell 2.9% to $9.26. But Radius Residential Care was up 1.4% to 35.5 cents and Oceania Healthcare rose 1% to $1.
Ahead of its annual meeting tomorrow, Metro Performance Glass shares fell 2%, or 0.5 of a cent, to 25 cents.
Fleet company Eroad and car sales company NZ Automotive Investments had the biggest declines of the day.
Eroad fell 6.1% to $1.85 and NZ Automotive Investments fell 5.7% to 50 cents per share.
Last week, the New Zealand Stock Exchange market regulator asked the car sales company to provide an assessment on whether their proposed director replacements could be considered independent. Failure to meet the NZX’s listing requirements could lead to it suspending trading in NZAI shares.
The Colonial Motor Company shares were also down 2.8% to $9.30.
Move Logistics Group shares were up 1.8% to $1.13 by the end of the day on the news of its new trans-Tasman shipping route.
The shipping company told the NZX that it had taken a “significant step” in its new Oceans business, with its first trans-Tasman sailing scheduled for October.
New data from industry organisation DairyNZ has shown that dairy farms will need $8.66 per kilogram of milk solids to cover costs – out of a milk payout of $9.50/kgMS
A2 Milk was down 2.2% to $5.46 today, and Synlait Milk fell 3.6% to $3.26. Fonterra Shareholders' Fund units were flat at $2.92 per share.
On the currency front, the NZ dollar was trading at 62.48 US cents at 5pm, down from 62.93 on Friday.
This story has corrected share prices for Ryman and Metro Glass, and Synlait's name.
