Market commentary
WELLINGTON: Sky Network Television and Comvita provided the bright spots in the reporting season as the New Zealand sharemarket continued to stumble from its recent sharp rally because of renewed inflationary fears.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index had a rocky day, closing at a low of 11,627.14 — down 28.19 points or 0.24% — after reaching an intraday high of 11,686.43.
There were 77 gainers and 70 decliners over the whole market on volume of 30 million share transactions worth $129.4 million.
Salt Funds Management managing director Matt Goodson said the rally had been dominated by the view the United States Federal Reserve needed to pivot and ease its monetary tightening.
‘‘It has emerged over the past few days that this view is premature as inflationary pressures remain, and subsequently markets have been choppier.’’
He said the New Zealand financial results season had been sound with more companies beating, rather than missing, their guidance, ‘‘but overall we’ve seen a net downgrade in forecasts which is not surprising given the economy is slowing and cost pressures are rampant’’.
Sky Network Television gained 3c to $2.62 after reporting a 40.5% increase in net profit to $62.2m on revenue of $736.1m, up 4%, for the year ending June.
Air New Zealand was down 1c to 66.5c after reporting an expected annual loss before tax of $810m, up from $415m on the previous year.
Freightways continued to leap forward after announcing it was expanding in Australia, rising 66c or 6.48% to $10.84.
Restaurant Brands gained 28c or 3.45% to $8.40; a2 Milk increased 6c to $5.42; wine exporter Delegat Group improved 3c or 2.61% to $1.18; and Scales Corporation rose 25c or 5.56% to $4.75 after telling the market its global pet food division was performing well.
There was a recovery in the property sector with Property for Industry gaining 4c to $2.665, and Vital Healthcare increasing 6c or 2.22% to $2.76.
Heartland Group Holdings, up 4.5c or 2.45% to $1.88, has opened its $70m share purchase plan for shareholders at $1.80 a share. Earlier, the banking group completed a $130m placement to institutional shareholders.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 5c to $20.20; Mainfreight declined $1.10 to $76.40; and Summerset Group Holdings fell 30c or 2.61% to $11.20.
In the energy sector, Contact decreased 11c to $7.77, and Meridian was down 9.5c or 1.86% to $5.005. Manawa Energy, down 6c to $6.24, has raised $100m worth of fiveyear bonds with a fixed rate of 5.36% a year. —