NZ index down for year after this week’s slide

The New Zealand sharemarket has slipped back into negative territory for the year after posting four out of five falls this week.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was saved from further damage with a sharp rise in the last half-hour of the matching session and closed at 11,755.17, up 8.58 points or 0.07 per cent after reaching an intraday low of 11,704.77. It lost 1.54 per cent for the week and is down 0.14 per cent for the year to date.

There were 65 gainers and 68 decliners on the main board, with 28.37 million shares worth $88.05m changing hands.

Greg Smith, head of retail with Devon Funds Management, said the local market was in a holding pattern waiting for the start of the company reporting season which is expected to be mixed.

He said there were some positive aspects to the latest BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index with a pick-up in activity during April.

The index settled at 48.9 (a reading above 50 indicates expansion), up from 46.8 in March but still lower than 49.1 in February. The manufacturing sector has now been in contraction for 14 consecutive months.

Production, however, returned to expansion for the first time since January 2023 with a reading of 50.8, and employment and finished stocks were 50.8 and 50.4 respectively.

The Warehouse was up 3c or 2.4 per cent to $1.28 after reporting a 9.2 per cent decline in group sales to $695.5m for the 13 weeks ending April 28 and a 6.2 per cent decrease to $2.3 billion for the past 39 weeks, compared with the same corresponding periods.

The Warehouse store sales were down 8.1 per cent to $408.3m in the third quarter, Warehouse Stationery declined 7.5 per cent to $60.8m, and Noel Leeming sales fell 9.3 per cent to $224.7m.

Smith said there was now a divergence between the retail companies, with Briscoe recently reporting a 1 per cent increase in quarterly sales.

“The trading environment is soft and The Warehouse hasn’t got a lot of confidence in its outlook. The Warehouse did very well during Covid and consumers have now become more discerning. They are not buying the TVs, computers and whiteware at Noel Leeming like they were.”

Amongst other retailers, Hallenstein Glasson was down 8c to $5.47, Briscoe decreased 6c to $4.35; and KMD Brands declined 1.5c to 46c.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare gained 15c to $28.85; Ebos Group increased 50c to $34.85; Spark was up

5c to $4.38; Fletcher Building was up

4c to $3.51; and ANZ Bank added 58c or 1.85 per cent to $31.90.

SkyCity improved 6c to $1.74; Vulcan Steel rebounded 29c to $7.29; Vista Group gained 6c to $1.83; and Rakon rose 9c to $1.05.

Freightways was down 15c to $8.20; Seeka declined 5c $2.50; AFT Pharmaceuticals fell 10c to $2.80; Comvita eased 4c to $1.71; and CDL Investments was down 2.5c to 68.5c.

In the retirement sector, Summerset Group declined 36c or

3.41 per cent to $10.20; Oceania Healthcare decreased 2c to 56c; and Ryman Healthcare, which reports its full-year result on May 27, was down

10c to $3.67 and has fallen nearly 31 per cent over the past 12 months.

In the energy sector, Mercury Energy shed 10c to $6.40; Manawa was down 5c to $4.20; Vector eased 5c to $3.64; and Genesis was up 4c to $2.265.