Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares fell yesterday, with heavy trading in property stocks as investors cleared their books to make way for a $150 million placement in Goodman Property Trust.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index declined 93.18 points to 10,774.85. Within the index, 22 stocks fell, 19 rose and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $106.7 million, of which $11.9 million came from Kiwi Property Group, Stride Property and Precinct Properties New Zealand.

Trading in GPT was halted while it raised $150 million at $2.10 a unit in a placement to institutional investors. It will raise up to $25 million more in a retail offer to existing investors. The units closed at $2.195 yesterday.

‘‘I would imagine it’s gone pretty well; the track record is solid, the assets are very well regarded,’’ Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said.

Other property stocks traded heavily, with Kiwi Property down 2.1% at $1.615 on a volume of 3.7 million shares. That made it the day’s mosttraded stock.

Stride fell 0.9% to $2.28 with 1.6 million shares traded, and Precinct rose 0.6% to $1.80 on a volume of 1.3 million shares. Property For Industry slipped 1% to $2.37 with 703,000 shares changing hands.

A2 Milk led the market lower, down 3.9% at $13.70 on a volume of 1.2 million shares. It has not enjoyed the same boost as other infant formula companies since ASXlisted Bellamy’s Australia received a $A1.5 billion takeover offer. A2 closed at a sixmonth low.

Synlait Milk gave up some of its recent gains, down 2.1% at $9.30, and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund dipped 0.3% to $3.20.

Kathmandu Holdings jumped 6.8% to $2.98, its highest close since October, after reporting earnings at the top end of its upgraded guidance with a standout performance from its Oboz footwear unit in the United States.

The Australian sharemarket closed lower yesterday for the first time in six days, pinned down by a slump in the energy sector as oil prices retreated from recent highs.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 13.7 points to 6681.6 points, while the All Ordinaries was down 10.5 points to 6791.2 points.

The energy sector was down 1.8% after two days of strong gains, following reports that damage to a Saudi oil processing plant from a drone attack would not be as bad as first feared.

Woodside Petroleum was down 2.5%, Oil Search down 2.1% and Santos down 1.7%.

Consumer stocks were generally lower, both discretionary and staples, with Coles down 0.8% to $14.67 and Wesfarmers falling 0.5% to $38.78.

Kathmandu jumped 7.6% to $2.83.

JB HiFi climbed 2.1% to $34.49, a record.

Tech stocks were the biggest gainers, up 0.6%, with Afterpay Touch gaining 2.2% to $32.28 and Wisetech Global up 1.1% to $35.17, although Isignthis fell 7.8% to $1.01.

All the big banks were in the red, with ANZ down 0.2% to $27.69, Westpac down 0.3% to $29.54, NAB down 0.5% to $29.15 and Commonwealth dropping 0.6% to $81.74.

Two small Melbourne biotech companies rose on positive news, with Cynata Therapeutics gaining 22.2% after Fujifilm elected to license its stem cell treatment for graftversushost disease, and Antisense Therapeutics soaring 63.8% after early results from a small study showed promise for its muscular dystrophy drug. — BusinessDesk/AAP