Market ‘ absolutely dead’ as it waits on election result

New Zealand shares rose in light trading ahead of the election, with Fletcher Building and Trade Me Group rising as A2 Milk dipped. The S& P/ NZX 50 Index rose 19.37 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 7814.78. Within the index, 27 stocks rose, 19 fell and four were unchanged. Turnover was $ 121.8 million.

“It’s been absolutely dead — there just seems to be an utter lack of interest in doing anything ahead of the election,” said Rickey Ward, NZ equity manager at JB Were.

“The polls have had a material influence leading up. Everyone’s now just sitting on their hands — we’re just playing around the edges.”

Fletcher Building rose 0.3 per cent to $ 7.79, though it spent most of the day trading down, hitting a three- month low of $ 7.71.

The stock has weakened on media reports that it has hired KPMG to audit four construction projects in its building and in- teriors unit.

“That has spooked the market on Thursday and yesterday. The company has gone incredibly quiet, which is disappointing — it’s what got them in a pickle in the first place,” Ward said.

“There’s been no real clarity about why you’ve got another auditor in there, so that has frightened people that further negative news... is imminent,” he said.

“If that’s the case shareholders will be looking for further changes, rightly or wrongly.”

Trade Me Group was best performer, up 2 per cent to $ 4.59.

Summerset Group Holdings gained 2 per cent to $ 5.10 and Tourism Holdings gained 1.8 per cent to $ 4.60.

A2 Milk Co dipped 0.3 per cent to $ 5.99. It’s the best performing stock on the index this year, up 182 per cent, and reached a record $ 6.12 last Monday before bouncing around this week.

“It pops its head up then drops back, it can’t seem to get past the $ 6 mark,” Ward said.

“That often happens to growth companies. They’re momentum driven.”

CBL Corp was the worst performer, down 1.4 per cent to $ 2.80.

Genesis Energy dropped 1.2 per cent to $ 2.40.

NZX fell 0.9 per cent to $ 1.17.

Outside the benchmark index, SLI Systems rose 13 per cent to 26c after releasing its annual report. Tru Screen was unchanged at 17.5c.

Director Tim Preston threw down a challenge to other board members in opting not to seek re- election at Thursday’s annual meeting, saying the NZAX- listed cervical cancer test developer’s governance needs greater diversity.