Market commentary

WELLINGTON: Founder Simon Henry’s personal holding in DGL Group has plummeted nearly $140 million in five days as his company and the New Zealand sharemarket, in correction territory, took another dive.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index began falling after a weak opening by its counterpart ASX 200 Index. The NZX closed at a near twoyear low of 11,381.7, down 227.69 points. It was the biggest single day fall in two months.

There were 116 decliners and 28 gainers over the whole market on volume of 54.26 million share transactions worth $152.92 million.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 84.90 points at 7120.70 after United States indices were weak again over the weekend.

Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said the New Zealand market has a similar feel to AprilMay 2020 (after Covid first struck) but it was a slower burn.

‘‘Pessimism is still elevated with the same themes of inflation, rising interest rates and Ukraine war and there may be some down side to come. But the markets can’t keep going down forever and stocks are starting to become oversold.’’

Transtasman chemicals business DGL Group fell 57c, or 14.81%, to $3.28, after sitting at $4.15 last Wednesday when Mr Henry’s comments about My

Food Bag and Nadia Lim became public.

The founder and chief executive has a 57% stake with 150.9 million shares in DGL and in the last three trading days the worth of his shareholding has fallen from about $664 million to $528 million — a drop of some $136 million.

Mr Sullivan said Fonterra cut its milk price forecast from $9.60 to $9.30 per kilogram of milk solids because of a drop in demand but there was still plenty of money in the dairy sector.

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund was down 4c to $2.80, and a2 Milk fell 26c to a new low of $4.41. Rural services firm PGG Wrightson rose 20c to $4.286.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare declined 45c to $21.50; Auckland International Airport fell 29c to $7.36; Mainfreight shed $3.29 to $77; Contact Energy was down 26c to $7.59; and Air New Zealand lost 3c to 76.5c.

Freightways fell 56c to $11.625 after telling the market that Express Package volumes were down 2% over the past two months because of the Omicron wave.

Also falling were SkyCity Entertainment $2.81 (8c); Tourism Holdings $2.75 (6c); Vista Group $1.76 (10c); Move Logistics $1.20 (8c); and Pacific Edge 84c (4c).

Retailers KMD Brands fell 4c to $1.28; Michael Hill

International lost 4c to $1.19; and Briscoe Group rose 12c to $5.90. Comvita fell 10c to $3.20.

Oceania Healthcare gained 2c to 99c after announcing it was buying two retirement villages for $57 million.

Fellow retirement village operators Ryman Healthcare fell 51c to $8.31, and Summerset Group Holdings declined 33c to $10.70.

Westpac Banking Corporation rose 84c to $27.10 after reporting a 63% increase in net profit to $3.28 billion compared with the second half of 2021 as well as 10% in cost reductions. —