Orion drops 5.7%, leads stock index lower
Markets may be in a bit of a holding pattern now the excitement of the US election has died down, says broker Kiwi dollar up
New Zealand shares declined as Orion Health Group extended its slide following its first-half results, while Tower rose. The S&P/NZX 50 Index dropped 20.6 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6889.77. Within the index, 23 stocks fell, 21 gained and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $165.4 million.
led the index lower, down 5.7 per cent to $1.65. The stock plummeted 19 per cent when it reported its first-half results on Monday last week, and is down 34 per cent since then.
The health software developer narrowed its first-half loss to $18m and said it would make a profit in 2018, while sales rose to $104.2m from $101.7m.
“It’s a continuation from the slide that started with its results at the end of November,” said Robert Garden, investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. “Obviously the concern around it is the cash balance
Orion Health Group
they’ve got and the amount of cash they’re burning through at the moment.”
Garden said markets may be “in a bit of a holding pattern” now that the excitement of the US election has died down, and may remain there “until Trump gets his feet under the desk and we’ll see how we move from there. The market’s not prepared to take as much risk on with some clouds over the next few months”. dropped 4 per fell 2.6 per
de-
Summerset Group Scales Corp Trustpower
cent to $4.60, cent to $3.40 and clined 1.8 per cent to $4.36. Units in
dipped 0.5 per cent to $5.93. Fonterra Cooperative Group is expected to lift its farmgate milk price payout to farmers after a further gain in global dairy auction prices overnight Tuesday.
was the best performer, up 4.1 per cent to 77c. The stock has rise 4.8 per cent since November 29, when the insurer said it will separate its
Fund Tower Fonterra Shareholders
liabilities and receivables from the Canterbury earthquakes into a separate ‘bad bank’ structure and “aggressively pursue” recoveries from the EQC and reinsurer Peak Re that amount to about $101m. It’s down 61.1 per cent this year, dragged lower by investor concerns over the long tail of earthquake costs.
Sky Network Television
gained 2 per cent to $4.67, while rose 1.3
Healthcare Property Trust Group Vital
per cent to $2.015. On the Unlisted market,
was unchanged at $3.20. The kiwifruit exporter plans to start construction next year on a $42.8m head office to create a hub for the expanding kiwifruit industry.
The 3-storey complex designed by architects Warren & Mahoney will be built on Zespri’s current site in Mount Maunganui, with work scheduled to start in the first quarter of next year and slated for completion by the end of 2018, the company said.
Zespri
The New Zealand dollar rose against its transtasman counterpart after figures showed the Australian economy shrank 0.5 per cent last quarter, the first time it has contracted since 2011. The kiwi dollar rose to A95.71c from A95.26c immediately before the data was released, leaving the cross-rate little changed from A95.82c late on Tuesday. The kiwi dollar traded at US71.19c, having earlier dipped below US70c, from US71.33c on Tuesday. The kiwi traded at €66.41c from
66.44c. It traded at 56.26 British pence from 56.11p.