Kathmandu, F&P lead drop as NZX gains
$151m turnover as 26 stocks dip and 17 rise
Kathmandu Holdings and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare led a drop in new Zealand shares, while NZX gained. The S&P/NZX50 Index fell 33.31 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 8,059.06. Within the index, 26 stocks fell, 17 rose and 7 were unchanged. Turnover was $151 million.
“There’s a bit more of an offer tone to the market today, despite that very sharp turnaround Friday night our time in the US,” said Matt Goodson, managing director at Salt Funds Management. “They’re not dramatic movements, but quite a number of names are down about 1 per cent.”
Along with Fletcher Building, CBL Corp also remained in a trading halt at $3.17. The insurer says it hasn’t worked out how much capital it needs to raise to satisfy regulatory solvency concerns and may take some weeks to finalise any transaction.
The stock was suspended from trading on the NZX last week as stock market operator NZX attempted to work out whether CBL had kept the market informed of material information and met continuous disclosure obligations.
Kathmandu Holdings led the index lower, down 2.1 per cent to $2.30, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 2.1 per cent to $12.45 and Ryman Healthcare dropping 1.9 per cent to $10.50.
Contact Energy dropped 0.4 per cent to $5.32. Its first-half adjusted earnings fell 11 per cent to $236m as the electricity generator-retailer dealt with a dry spell which sapped its hydro generation. Net profit sank 40 per cent to $58m, or 8.1 cents per share, which it said was due to a greater reliance on thermal power supply. Revenue rose 15 per cent to $1.19 billion.
“It was in line with diminished expectations,” Goodson said. “They were suffering from poor hydrology in the half, since then it has rained and the Clutha has filled up they have made good progress taking core costs out of the business, which is a repeatable source of upside.”
NZX was the best performer, up 2.7 per cent to $1.13. A report by the NZ Institute of Economic Research, commissioned by the stock market operator, says NZX’s role in keeping the cost of capital relatively low gives a $2.4b kicker to the broader economy.
Property For Industry gained 0.6 per cent to $1.65. Its annual profit more than halved to $51.7m after buying out its management contract and reaping a smaller fair value gain on investment properties.
— BusinessDesk