Market commentaries
WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares dropped yesterday, led lower by Trustpower and New Zealand Refining Co, while Sky Network Television rebounded from Monday’s selloff.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 28.72 points to 9022.93. Within the index, 27 stocks fell, 16 rose and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $114 million.
‘‘We’ve been a bit sluggish today; there’s always the school holidays excuse,’’ Craigs Investment Partners investment adviser Peter McIntyre said.
Trustpower was the worst performer, down 2.3% to $5.62. New Zealand Refining Co lost 2% to $2.47, Skycity Entertainment Group fell 2% to $4.03, and Kathmandu Holdings was down 1.7% to $2.88.
Sky TV was the best performer, up 3.1% to $2.70, having been the worst performer on Monday when it dropped 5.1%.
a2 Milk Co rose 1.9% to $11.66, Investore Property gained 1.3% to $1.52, and Stride Property was up 1.1% to $1.88.
Summerset Holdings gained 0.4% to $7.56. Its firsthalf profit rose as much as 26% as stronger development margins made up for a lower volume of new sales.
Gentrack Group gained 0.7% to $6.95. It came out of a trading halt on Monday after raising about $52.4 million in a discounted stock offer to institutional investors as part of a twostage share sale aimed at raising funds to repay debt used for a recent flurry of acquisitions.
That bookbuild, of 3.4 million entitlements, achieved a clearing price of $6.69 per share, a premium of 50c per share over the offer price of $6.19, and a discount of 19c per share to the theoretical exrights price of $6.88.
Precinct Properties was unchanged at $1.36. It has refinanced its $760 million bank debt facility, which was due to expire in November 2020, extending $460 million of the existing facilities in two new tranches expiring in July 2022 and July 2023. The balance of the facility expires in November 2020.
‘‘For a propertybased company that refinancing is really important,’’ Mr McIntyre said.
Outside the benchmark index, ERoad fell 6.9% to $3.25. It registered slower firstquarter growth than anticipated as prospective buyers put off their purchasing decisions across Australasia and in North America, after a period of rapid expansion in the US.
A The Australian sharemarket has snapped its threeday winning streak, hit by losses in the big four banks and consumerexposed stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 27.9 points to 6258.1 while the All Ordinaries index fell 23.6 points to 6342.8.
Shaw and Partners senior private client adviser Craig Sidney said the bullish run early in the morning could have been the trigger for profittaking, most notably in the big four banks.
‘‘The market has probably got a little bit ahead of itself up until yesterday, sitting around a 10 and ahalf year high,’’ Mr Sidney said.
‘‘You’ve got a few investors saying it’s time to take a bit of profit and have sold down the banking sector.’’
The release of National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey late yesterday morning, which showed the weakest business confidence in 20 months, might have also hurt market sentiment, Mr Sidney said.
CBA dropped 2.2% to $74.43, ANZ fell 1% to $28.80, Westpac also slipped 1% to $29.49 and National Australia Bank lost 0.6% to $27.86.
Investment bank Macquarie Group also lost ground, finishing 0.9% lower at $122.52.
Wesfarmers, which owns several retail chains including Bunnings and Kmart, fell 1.3% to $49.36, Mr Sidney said.
However there were gains in the materials and energy sectors.
BHP Billiton rose 1.1% to $34.23 and Rio Tinto gained 0.9% to $81.62.
Energy stocks Woodside Petroleum and Origin Energy finished up 0.6% to $36.32 and 0.2% to $10.09, respectively. — BusinessDesk/AAP