Market commentary
WELLINGTON: The New Zealand sharemarket was a little edgy and fell nearly 1% as it awaited today’s exchange traded funds activity in the leading energy stocks, Contact and Meridian.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed at 12,636.55, down 114.83 points, or 0.9%, on solid volume of 64.6 million share transactions worth $219.62 million. The index fell from an early morning burst that reached 12,770.83 points.
Craigs Investment Partners investment adviser Nigel Scott said trading was choppy; people were waiting for the Contact and Meridian event.
After the end of trading today, the two iShares Global Clean Energy exchange traded funds (ETFs) will be closing out dealings to rebalance their weightings in Contact and Meridian. Up to $1 billion worth of shares — representing 5% of each stock — could be traded.
‘‘People have been buying Contact and Meridian in anticipation and their prices have gone up — but it feels like the market has been caught short. I’m wondering if the ETFS wanted to get higher prices,’’ Mr Scott said.
After steady rises over the past two weeks, Contact and Meridian did fall — 11c to $7.50, and 5c to $6 respectively. There was again heavy trading in the stocks: $43.24 million worth of Contact shares and $29.1 million worth of Meridian’s. This strong trading has been happening all week and the market is wondering how much this is attributable to the ETFS.
Mercury fell 15c, or 2.19%, to $6.70 and Genesis was down 11c, or 3.17%, to $3.36.
The rebounding Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 64c, or 1.92%, to $32.69; Auckland International Airport declined 20c, or 2.6%, to $7.50; SkyCity Entertainment lost 6c, or 1.73%, to $3.41; Napier Port shed 6c, or 1.71%, to $3.45; AFT Pharmaceuticals fell 7c to $4.17; and Sky Network Television was down $0.004, or 2.17%, to 18c.
Port of Tauranga rose 12c, or 1.62%, to $7.55; Ebos Group was up 10c to $29.95; Turners Automotive climbed 10c, or 2.86%, to $3.60; insurer Tower increased 3c, or 3.66%, to 85c; and The New Zealand Refining Company gained 2.5c, or 5.05%, to 52c.
The Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund rose 12c, or 2.68%, to $4.59 after dairy farmers fixed their new milk supply agreements. —