Market commentary

WELLINGTON: The New Zealand sharemarket had one of its quieter trading days for many weeks yesterday — showing it was unmoved by the Labour Partydominated election result at the weekend.

Most of the stocks travelled in a narrow price range, after all the sharp rises and falls over the past few weeks. The S&P/NZX 50 Index slipped 47.90 points or 0.39% to 12,385.25 in a late decline.

Volume was reasonably light with 47.39 million shares worth $137.31 million changing hands, and there were 90 gainers and 52 decliners over the whole market of 182 stocks.

The New Zealand dollar rose slightly against the American greenback, trading at 66.31c at 5.45pm after reaching a low of 65.98c during the day.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the market was flat most of the day and the election result had very little impact.

‘‘It hasn’t even been a major topic of conversation. The result was well and truly anticipated and the slight surprise was that Labour did a couple of points better. The election campaign was very thin on major policy and there will be no great change in the direction of the country.’’

Mr Goodson said a new top income tax rate of 39c in the dollar would affect imputed dividends a little bit and it’s highly unlikely that capital gains or wealth taxes will be introduced. ‘‘We know the minimum wage is going up from $18.90 to $20 an hour, and we can expect greater bargaining power from the unions.’’

Meridian fell 20c or 3.54% to $5.45, Mercury declining 10c to $5.30, Genesis fell 7c or 2.19% to $3.12, and Trustpower fell 4c to $7.70.

Leading stocks Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and a2 Milk were both up 4c to $35.24 and $15.70.

Auckland International Airport recovered 7c to $7.27, PGG Wrightson climbed 9c or 3.16% to $2.94; and Fletcher Building increased 8c to $4.33.

Other decliners were Ryman Healthcare, down 35c or 2.36% to $14.50; competitor Summerset Group falling 14c to $10.18; Ebos Group declining 30c to $26.50; and Heartland Group Holdings, down 4c or 2.84% to $1.37. Synlait Milk’s subsidiary Dairyworks has sold its Deep South ice cream brand and operations to Talleys for an undisclosed sum, and Synlait edged ahead 2c to $5.47. —