Market commentary
WELLINGTON: The New Zealand sharemarket fell for the third day running, but brokers remain confident about further gains.
Retailer Hallenstein Glasson stood out following strong consumer spending.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index drifted on steady trading, closing down 63.41 points, or 0.48%, to 13,120.28 after reaching an intraday high of 13,224.95.
The index has fallen more than 3% in three days. There were 57 gainers and 86 decliners over the whole market on volume of 57.6 million share transactions worth $187.77 million.
Forsyth Barr investment adviser Dan Stratful said the market was taking a breather after the heavy buying and heady price rises of Contact and Meridian. ‘‘There is still optimism out there,’’ he said.
‘‘The consensus is the momentum of late last year will continue and that the first half of this year will be better than the second half when it flattens out.’’
The energy stocks had a quiet day, but Hallenstein Glasson rose 13c, or 1.91%, to $6.93.
‘‘Hallenstein is a well run, well managed company with a good balance sheet and it pays massive dividends,’’ Mr Stratful said.
The retail sector had not done as badly as some had feared, he said.
‘‘The Warehouse recently reported a profit upgrade, and people can’t travel, so they are spending their money on property and retail. The small oneman bands are struggling but the big retailers will have an OK year.’’
The Warehouse has had a strong run lately, and it slipped 1c to $3.05.
Kathmandu was up 2c, or 1.56%, to $1.30, and Briscoe Group was down 7c to $5.30, after also having a good runup. SmartPay Holdings, which supplies eftpos machines to the retail sector, climbed 2.5c, or 3.27%, to 79c.
Meridian Energy was down 29.5c, or 3.6%, to $7.895, Contact lost 4c to $9.95 and Mercury gained 30c, or 4.29%, to $7.30. Trustpower was also up 12c to $8.42.
Mainfreight continued its slide from a high of $69.89 on December 30, falling another $1, or 1.5%, to $65.80.
Other leading stocks made gains. Ebos Group gained 30c to $29, Port of Tauranga rose 7c to $7.59, Freightways moved ahead 17c to $10.47 and Fletcher Building continued its steady climb, rising 5c to $6.02.
Auckland International Airport was down 10c to $7.55, a2 Milk lost 17c to $11.24, Pushpay Holdings decreased 6c $1.58, Synlait Milk declined 10c to $4.81 and Serko was down 10c to $5.60.
Ryman Healthcare had a topsyturvy day, reaching $15.50 during the day before closing at $15.05, down 4c. Fellow retirement village operator Summerset Group Holdings fell 15c to $12.35.
Tourism Holdings, badly hit by the Covid19 pandemic, continues to suffer, falling 5c, or 2%, to $2.45. Vista Group, declined 4c, or 2.52%, to $1.55.
Wall Street was steady overnight: the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged ahead 0.19% to 31,068.69, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.042% to 3801.19 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.28% to 13,072.43.
Leading technology stocks continued to slide. Twitter and Facebook, two social media platforms that have blocked President Donald Trump, fell more than 2%.
Twitter was down 2.35% to $US47.4 ($NZ65), Facebook fell 2.24% to $US251.09, Alphabet/Google declined 1.07% to $US1737.43, and Microsoft shed 1.18% to $US214.93.