New Zealand’s market ignored the negative headwinds from international markets today but although the benchmark index saw a small rally this afternoon, it ended the day flat.
Harbour Asset Management portfolio manager Shane Solly said market volumes had been thin on the ground over the course of the day which, coupled with small trades, had meant it had been another uneventful day of post-Christmas trading.
The S&P/NZX 50 index ended the day flat at 11,538.45. Turnover was a light $61.3 million.
Solly said real estate stocks had pushed up the market earlier in the day due to bond yields continuing to increase.
Vital Healthcare Property Trust was up 0.4% to $2.26 and Argosy Property edged up 1.3% to $1.18.
Investore Property jumped up by 2% to $1.50 in light trading while Goodman Property Trust was down by 0.5% to $2.01.
Stocks that turned over a lot of volume were healthcare wholesaler Ebos Group and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.
Both stocks have benefitted from the pandemic and with China’s surprise reopening, paired with a global increase in covid cases, there could become a bigger need for Ebos and F&P’s products.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up earlier in the day but edged down 0.2% to $22.38 and Ebos was up 0.5% to $44.12.
Power surge
Energy retailers like Merdian Energy, Infratil and Contact Energy also edged up the index today and turned over $11m in value by early evening.
Infratil was up 0.5% to $8.645, Meridian Energy rose 1.5% to $5.35 and Contact Energy was up 0.4% to $7.85.
When it came to decliners, Westpac Bank fell 2.5% to $24.50 and online travel booking company Serko was down 4.6% to $2.27 in light trading.
Telco Spark, which turned over the most volume in NZ’s market today – almost $8.5m – was down 0.5% to $5.41 by the end of trading.
On the currency front, the NZ dollar was trading at 63.25 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, jumping from 62.64 US cents yesterday.
