Cautious trading after concert attack
Ebos the highlight while Comvita and Spark retreat
New Zealand stocks dipped, led by Comvita and Spark New Zealand, in cautious trading after a suspected terrorist attack killed 22 people and wounded at least 59 at a pop concert in the English city of Manchester.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 24.80 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 7384.70. Within the index, 18 stocks rose, nine were unchanged and 23 fell.
Turnover yesterday was a quiet $93.7 million.
“There is very low volume running through the market and Asia, in particular, is trading sideways post the Ariana Grande attack in the UK. Markets are tending to trade a little bit cautiously today,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners.
led the local market lower, shedding 6.6 per cent to $5.25, reaching a 10-month low, after the Ministry for Primary Industries said
Comvita
the myrtle rust fungal disease was found in Waikato yesterday.
“Investors are concerned about myrtle rust and how it might impact financially on that business, in particular given news reports of new discoveries of the fungal disease. Investors are looking to sell,” McIntyre said.
Spark
shed 1.9 per cent to $3.665
A2 Milk
while fell 1.4 per cent at $3.44, which McIntyre put down to investors booking profit on gains.
Auckland International Airport
lost 0.7 per cent to $6.89 despite positive passenger numbers. The company said total international passenger numbers, excluding transits, increased by 15 per cent to 861,292 in April 2017 from the same month a year earlier. However, news that the transport hub’s Chinese visitor arrivals were down 10.1 per cent in April 2017, compared with April 2016, may have weighed on sentiment, McIntyre said.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
shed 0.2 per cent to $10.08. McIntyre said the stock was weaker on some profittaking as investors had taken posi-
Serko Chorus Ebos Group
tions ahead of the result. was the leading gainer adding 1.7 per cent to $18.25 after it entered an agreement to acquire HPS, Australia’s largest provider of outsourced pharmacy services to hospitals, for A$154m.
The acquisition is expected to increase Ebos’s underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by at least 5 per cent in the 2018 financial year and will add to earnings per share from year one, it said in a statement to the New Zealand stock exchange.
shares jumped 21 per cent to 46c after the online travel booking software firm said it boosted sales and scaled back spending, allowing it to almost halve its annual loss.
also helped shore up the index, adding 1.1 per cent to $4.48. McIntyre said the company continued to benefit from its addition to the S&P/ASX 200 index.
added 1.5 per cent to $24.
Xero Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund
rose 1.5 per cent to $6.13.
The dairy giant is expected to publish its final forecast for the season just ending as well as its opening forecast for the season that starts on June 1.