Market commentaries
WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index fell about 1% for the second straight session yesterday, joining a global selloff that started on Wall Street and extended into Asia amid fears of a trade war.
Spark NZ, Air New Zealand, Sky Network Television and A2 Milk all fell.
The NZX 50 fell 82.95 points, or 0.97%, to 8432.41. Within the index, 33 stocks fell, 11 rose and six were unchanged. Turnover was $95 million.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.8%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 2.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 2.4%. Yesterday in Asia, benchmark indexes from Australia to Japan were weaker as China announced retaliatory tariffs in the face of increased United States levies.
The NZX 50 was led lower by Spark, which fell 3.1% to $3.43. Air New Zealand fell 2.7% to $3.30 and A2 Milk fell 2.4% to $13.40. Synlait Milk, a manufacturing partner of A2, fell 2.2% to $8.51.
‘‘There’s nothing really New Zealand specific. We’re following on from the US market,’’ David Price, a broker at Forsyth Barr, said.
Some of the bestperforming stocks on the NZX 50, including A2 ‘‘have run pretty hard. It isn’t panic selling. People have made some fairly serious money out of the likes of A2’’.
Sky TV fell 2.2% to $2.27 after the payTV company said chief executive John Fellet plans to retire within the next year, after 17 years at the helm. Last month, Aucklandbased Sky said it had lost 37,359 customers in the six months ended December 31, including the 10,608 it shed with the closure of its Fatso DVD rental unit, leaving it with 778,776 subscribers at the end of 2017.
Mr Fellet had done ‘‘a fantastic job’’, Mr Price said.
‘‘I presume it was going to be the handover when Vodafone happened. That fell over and he’s had to take the helm back,’’ he said, referring to the proposed merger between Vodafone and Sky TV, which was vetoed by the Commerce Commission.
Among other stocks, Vital Healthcare Property Trust fell 2% to $2.07 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare dropped 1.7% to $13.08.
Gentrack Group was the biggest gainer, rising 3% to $6.85 after the company said it had inked a contract with Eon, providing Germany’s largest renewable energy producer with its velocity utility billing and customer management software for its United Kingdom and Romanian energy supply businesses.
Augusta Capital fell 0.5% to $1.07 after the company said the capital raising for its air traffic control centre in Christchurch closed oversubscribed and it would not take up any units under its $15 million underwrite.
Australian shares have fallen back to levels not seen since midOctober, with almost every sector in negative territory as worries of a protectionist trade war continue to weigh down global markets.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index yesterday was down 0.52%, at 5790.5 points by late afternoon with retreating stocks led by the major banks.
The broader All Ordinaries index was down 27.6 points, or 0.47%, at 5901.4 points.
National turnover was 3.3 billion securities traded worth $6.4 billion. Australia’s big four banks led the losses yesterday, with the Commonwealth Bank shedding 1.1% to $72.02. It has lost three key executives in the leadup to Matt Comyn’s arrival as chief executive officer on April 9.
ANZ dropped 0.7% to $27.52, NAB dropped 0.7% to $28.78 and Westpac fell 0.6% to $28.67.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank dipped 21c, or 2.1%, to $9.94 on news longterm chief executive Mike Hirst would retire in July, to be replaced by chief customer officer Marnie Baker, who will be the first female managing director in the bank’s 160year history.
The top miners lost ground as Dalian iron ore futures fell, with BHP Billiton off 0.6% at $28.60, Rio Tinto down 0.2% to $73.32, and Fortescue Metals 0.9% weaker at $4.61.
The price of gold and local gold miners rose as geopolitical tensions stoked demand for the safehaven metal. Newcrest Mining was ahead by 1.6% to $20.17 and rival Northern Star up 2.7% to $6.96.
Oil prices reversed their earlier gains after the US rig count hit a threeyear high, pointing to rising output but leaving local producers mixed.
Woodside Petroleum fell in afternoon trade, down 0.1% to $29.31, Santos lifted 0.8% to $5.12, and Oil Search rose 0.7% to $7.19. — AAP/ BusinessDesk
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