Market commentaries

AUCKLAND: New Zealand shares dipped as Kiwi Property Group’s plans to raise up to $210 million kept investors busy ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy review overnight and a slew of local company earnings and annual meetings today.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index decreased 4.21 points, or 0.04%, to 10,789.54. Within the index, 28 stocks fell, 16 rose, and six were unchanged. Turnover was $172.1 million.

Property stocks were generally weaker as investors cleared out their portfolios to make way for Kiwi Property’s capital raising. The owner of the Sylvia Park mall in Auckland will raise $180 million in a fully underwritten placement at $1.58 a share, a discount to the $1.67 price they closed at yesterday. A further $20 million of shares will be sold to New Zealand retail investors with the capacity to accept a further $10 million of oversubscriptions.

‘‘Kiwi is following Goodman Property Trust in looking to raise capital. It’s obviously a good time because the share price is well in excess of NTA or asset backing,’’ said Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. Kiwi Property’s net tangible assets were $1.423.

Goodman Property fell 2.5% to $2.125 on a volume of 1.9 million units, more than its 90day average of 1.1 million. Stride Property declined 0.9% to $2.30, Vital

Healthcare Property Trust was down 0.7% at $2.68, Argosy Property decreased 0.7% to $1.42, Investore Property fell 0.5% to $1.93, Precinct Properties New Zealand slipped 0.3% to $1.845, and Property For Industry was down 0.2% at $2.41.

Trading in Kiwi Property was halted for a bookbuild and will resume tomorrow.

Stocks across Asia were mixed as investors await the Federal Reserve’s policy review, which is expected to see lower US interest rates. At the same time, investors were weighing up whether the US and China would sign a minitrade deal at the APEC Leaders’ Summit next month.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which derives the bulk of its revenue overseas, fell 0.4% to $19.10 on an unusually large volume of 2.2 million shares. It typically trades on a volume of 545,000.

Closer to home, local investors have one eye on company earnings and annual meetings today, and the reweighting of the MSCI New Zealand Index at the end of the week.

Z Energy reports its firsthalf earnings today, having already warned that tighter competition and the cost of the Commerce Commission’s fuel market study weighed on the bottom line. Its shares fell 1.5% to $5.26 with 1.2 million shares traded.

Freightways fell 0.4% to $7.95. Late in the trading day it announced a $117 million acquisition of Big Chill Distribution, which operates a fleet of more than 200 refrigerated trucks and trailers.

ANZ Banking Group decreased 0.2% to $29.88 ahead of reporting its annual earnings today. Westpac Banking Corp was also down 0.2% at $30.86. It reports on Monday.

Sky Network Television led the market lower, down 4.2% at 92c, with 475,000 shares traded, less than half its 1.2 million average.

Meridian Energy was the most traded stock on a volume of 3.2 million shares, which fell 1.1% to $4.65.

Outside the benchmark index, Scott Technology rose 1.3% to $2.33. The company yesterday said it would receive a $5.8 million sixyear loan from the Government’s Provincial Growth Fund to set up an agriculture technology unit. The full terms of the deal were still to be agreed.

The Australian sharemarket snapped seven days of gains yesterday with a major selloff that left every sector in the red.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished down 55.9 points, or 0.83%, to 6689.5 points, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 53.8 points, or 0.79%, to 6794.7 points. — BusinessDesk/AAP