Shares dip as election uncertainty sets in
Sharemarket down 0.3% on week but up 13.9% this year
New Zealand shares continued to decline as election uncertainty dampened investor enthusiasm with Sky Network Television and Kathmandu Holdings dropping while CBL Corp bounced back from its recent fall.
The S&P/NZX50 Index dropped 12.98 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 7,827.43. Within the index, 27 stocks fell, 17 rose and six were unchanged. Turnover was $191 million.
Matt Goodson, managing director at Salt Funds Management, said there was a lack of corporate news following the reporting season with a number of companies busy with investor roadshows. The local market bucked the trend by not following international markets higher over the last couple of days, although the bourse initially responded well to the latest general election poll released on Tuesday showing the incumbent National Party back in front, Goodson said.
The local index is down 0.3 per cent this week, although it’s still up 13.9 per cent for the year. Overnight, the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq Composite all closed at records, rallying as recent fears about nuclear tension with North Korea and natural disaster damage diminished.
Sky Network Television
led the NZX50 lower, down 3.3 per cent to $2.61 and declined 2.7 per cent to $2.15.
dropped 3.1 per cent, or 10.5 cents, to $3.34, after shedding rights to an 8.8 cents per share final dividend and a 5 cents per share special dividend.
gained 2.5 per cent to $2.92. The stock had dropped 6.6 per cent this week before today’s rise.
NZ Kathmandu Holdings Mercury CBL Corp
Last month, the company flagged a $16.5m increase in CBL Insurance’s reserves to cover future claims, leading operating profit to fall to $22.4m from $35.1m in the same period a year earlier, some $17.5m below expectations.
“Obviously it has been sold down fairly aggressively, whenever a stock has been sold down that hard you often see a sharp bounce. I don’t think there’s anything more to it than that,” Goodson said. rose 2.8 per cent to $3.30
gained 2.1 per
Vector Contact Energy
while cent to $5.44. Outside the benchmark index,
was halted at $3.36 on the NZX. It intends to raise as much as $30m by selling new shares to help fund future growth and provide more liquidity for its stock.
The Auckland-based company will raise $25m through the placement of new ordinary shares at $3.02 apiece, which will be fully underwritten by the sole lead manager UBS New Zealand. It also plans to raise as much as $5m through a non-underwritten share purchase plan which will be offered to eligible shareholders and
Turners Automotive Group
convertible bond holders, it said.
“They’ve had a lot of success in their relationship with MTF, and from their latest update overall the business is trading pretty solidly,” Goodson said. “It’s possibly a surprising discount, and one suspects it will be fairly keenly sought.”
Opus International Consultants
gained 6.3 per cent to $1.87. WSP Global Inc, a Canadian listed consultancy firm, has lifted its offer for Opus after the company declared a 14c dividend. Shareholders who choose to sell will now receive $1.92 per share, from the previous $1.85 per share which allowed Opus to declare a fully imputed dividend of 7c a share.
was flat at 78 cents, though it traded most of the day at 79c. In late trading on the Australian stock exchange,
was down 6.5 per cent to A14.5c. Yesterday, the agricultural technology company dropped 23 per cent to A15.5c on its debut. It raised A$8m in a fully subscribed share offer last month at an issue price of A20 cents per share, with A$5m of the capital raised underwritten by Hunter Capital Advisors.
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