Energy companies were up across the board in New Zealand’s market today, coinciding with carbon prices dropping at the last auction for the year.
In New Zealand’s share market, the S&P/NZX 50 index fell 20.6 points, or 0.18%, to 11,610.99. Turnover was $130.3 million.
Harbour Asset Management's portfolio manager, Shane Solly, said NZ’s market was running on low volumes today with the more defensive market earners like energy stocks edging up.
The last carbon auction for the year cleared at $79 – just below the secondary market price earlier this week but Solly didn’t think the energy stocks rise was due to the auction as carbon credits were “part of the process for gentailers”.
Mercury NZ was up 0.4% to $5.52, Genesis Energy edged up 0.8% to $2.57, Manawa Energy rose by 0.6% to $5.08 and Meridian Energy by 2% to $5.06.
Diversified infrastructure group and Auckland lines company Vector was also up 0.3% to $4.06.
NZ King Salmon fell more than 8.5% to 21.5 cents today.
On Monday, the salmon farmer had announced that McGuinness Institute, the Wellington-based non-partisan think tank, had filed an appeal over the granting of the consent for NZKS’s open ocean farming project, Blue Endeavour.
The Department of Conservation had also put in an appeal seeking changes to certain conditions imposed on the consent last Friday.
SkyCity Entertainment revealed to the market this morning that the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) intended to file civil penalty proceedings in the Australian federal court.
This is over the allegation that SkyCity’s Adelaide casino contravened the Australian Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Act. The stock slipped down 1.1% to $2.69 today.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 2.9% to $23.31 which also helped drag the market lower.
WasteCo fell 6.3% to 7.5 cents – still trading above its reverse listing issue price of 5 cents on its second day of being listed on the NZX.
The newly listed Black Pearl was less fortunate and fell 6.7% to 42 cents, falling 61% in less than a week.
Today, the NZ dollar was trading at 63.16 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 63.34 US cents yesterday.
