Market commentaries

AUCKLAND: New Zealand shares fell for a fifth day yesterday as a rout on Wall Street spread into Asian markets, weighing heavily on growth stocks such as software firms Gentrack and Pushpay.

The S&P/NZX 50 index dropped 74.01 points, or 0.9%, to 8568.23. Within the index, 40 stocks fell, three gained and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $138.6 million.

New Zealand fared better than markets across Asia. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 2.2% in afternoon trading and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.7%.

United States stocks fell overnight, with the techheavy Nasdaq dipping 4.4% amid general unease over global growth and the prospect of higher interest rates. The VIX — Wall Street’s fear gauge — rose to 25.23, compared with its 20year moving average of 13.35.

Local tech companies led the NZX 50 lower on light volumes. Gentrack dropped 3.5% to $6.58 and Pushpay fell 2.8% to $3.48. A2 Milk fell 2% to $9.90.

‘‘It’s not fundamentals driving things at the moment. Investors are selling because other equity markets are in decline,’’ Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said.

Freightways fell 2.1% to $7.13 on modest volumes after the courier and information management firm said firstquarter revenue was up 8.3%. It also affirmed expectations for earnings growth.

Mr Williamson said New Zealand’s economic fundamentals were still standing up pretty well.

‘‘There are still goodquality companies. They’ve just got a bit cheaper.’’

The NZX 50 is still up 2.1% so far this year, the only major equities index across AsiaPacific to still be in the year to date.

NZX fell 1.9% to $1.04.

Spark New Zealand was the mosttraded stock, on a volume of 3 million. It fell 0.7% to $3.835, while Meridian Energy was down 0.3% to $3.07 on more than twice its normal volume. Z Energy fell 0.7% to $5.85 on more than three times its average volume.

Air New Zealand dropped 2.4% to $2.615 with 1.5 million shares traded, slightly more than usual.

Rival Qantas Airways yesterday said firstquarter revenue rose 6.3%, helping offset higher fuel costs.

Metlifecare rose 1% to $5.91 after buying land to expand its Botany development in Auckland. Rival Ryman Healthcare gained 1.5% to $11.77 on almost twice its average volume.

Among other stocks with more than 1 million shares traded, Contact Energy slipped 0.2% to $5.52, Fletcher Building was unchanged at $5.71, Sky Network Television slipped 0.9% to $2.30 and Mercury NZ declined 1.2% to $3.33.

Heartland Bank fell 2.6% to $1.52 on a volume of 1.3 million shares, almost four times its 90day average.

Outside the benchmark index, Steel & Tube fell 2.9% to $1.32 after chairwoman Susan Paterson was reelected at the annual meeting. She revealed the company had investigated buying Fletcher assets, which was why the board was wary of regulator concerns when it batted away a takeover offer from the larger firm.

Scott Technology was unchanged at $2.90 after reporting a 12% increase in operating earnings as it bedded in new acquisitions.

South Port New Zealand was unchanged at $7.40 after affirming expectations for annual profit to fall 10%; TeamTalk gained 1.2% after affirming flat earnings for the current financial year.

Duallisted AMP dropped 18% to $2.93 on the NZX. The Australian financial services firm will sell its AMP Life unit for A$3.3 billion ($NZ3.58 billion) and plans to spin out its New Zealand wealth management and adviser business as a separately listed company in an initial public offering.

The Australian sharemarket tumbled to its lowest level in 12 months yesterday, with the indices sustaining significant losses across the board after a dive on Wall Street overnight.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 164.9 points, or 2.83%, at 5664.1 points, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 167 points, or 2.82%, at 5759.5 points.

Rakuten Securities Australia’s chief operating officer Nick Twidale said the market had well and truly entered a correction stage but the indices would get worse before they got better.

‘‘Until we see something tangible to change investor sentiment then I think we’ve got more downside coming for global stock markets, growth expectations and risk assets,’’ he said.

The drop follows a fall by US stocks overnight, which confirmed a correction, too, for the Nasdaq and erased the Dow and S&P 500’s gains for the year amid disappointing earnings, economic growth concerns, a spat between Italy and the European Union and the killing of a Saudi journalist.

The dive also continues the ASX’s worst month in more than three years. The market is down more than 8% for October — and 10% since August — edging ever closer to an 18month low of February 2016 in its fifth straight session of losses. — BusinessDesk/AAP