Market commentary

WELLINGTON: The New Zealand sharemarket took a wellearned breather after two weeks of incredible volatility — and changes in the prestigious MSCI indices affected three stocks.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index again had its ups and downs during the day but finished reasonably flat, closing at 11,168.18 — down 9.18 points, or 0.08%, after hitting a noon low of 11,086.79. The index was down nearly 4% for the week.

There were 60 gainers and 76 decliners across the whole market on volume of 42.7 million share transactions worth $146.91 million. Individual trading was dominated by Ryman Healthcare and Ebos Group, which had different outcomes in the MSCI changes.

Ryman Healthcare, gaining 14c to $9.39 on trade worth $11.86 million, is being removed from the MSCI Large Cap Index at the end of this month following its semiannual review.

There could be more than $26 million worth of Ryman shares traded before May 31 as passive investment funds continue to offload their holdings.

It was thought that Ebos Group could replace Ryman in the global index but did not quite meet the criteria and Ebos was sold off — falling 98c, or 2.39%, to $39.99 on trade worth $15.52 million.

The New Zealand market now has only five stocks in the MSCI index — Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, up 70c or 3.44% to $21.05; Spark gaining 6.5c to $4.90; Auckland International Airport increasing 20c or 2.82% to $7.30; Meridian down 14c or 3.04% to $4.47; and Mercury up 1c to $5.65.

The Warehouse Group is joining the MSCI Small Cap Index and rose 24c or 7.62% to $3.39. The Warehouse told the market it is considering whether to reenter the grocery sector and increase competition.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said the local market had a reflection day after all the macroeconomic volatility.

‘‘The US markets rallied into the close of trading and longterm bond yields stopped going up and this helped steady our market. What the markets are battling with is whether the central banks can control or get on top of inflation, or does it mean an economic recession.’’ —