Shares join global lull amid protest nerves

Meridian posts biggest fall but good day for SkyCity

New Zealand shares joined a global decline as investors remain unnerved by heightened geopolitical tensions. Domestic earnings met expectations but failed to stoke local investor confidence.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 17.97 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 10,854.77. Within the index, 23 stocks declined, 21 rose, and six were unchanged. Turnover was $107.4 million, with five

stocks trading on volumes of more than a million shares.

Stocks across Asia followed Wall Street lower after pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong closed the autonomous region’s airport and goaded mainland Chinese officials to dub the demonstrations as the first sign of “terrorism”. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.9 per cent in afternoon trading, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 0.8 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index decreased 0.4 per cent.

Meridian Energy led the market lower, down 2.4 per cent at $4.88.

Of other blue-chip stocks to decline, Spark New Zealand fell 1.1 per cent to $4.055 and was the most heavily traded company on a volume

of 2.5 million shares, Fletcher Building slipped 0.6 per cent to $4.69,

Auckland International Airport

decreased 0.9 per cent to $9.74 and

Air New Zealand dipped 0.2 per cent to $2.75.

Kiwi Property Group rose 0.3 per

cent to $1.64 and Mercury NZ increased 0.2 per cent to $4.98.

NZX was unchanged at $1.20 after reporting a 4.3 per cent increase in first-half operating earnings and flagging a better result was still to come in the annual result.

Summerset increased 0.5 per cent to $5.87. It reported first-half underlying earnings up 6 per cent, and signalled interest in entering Melbourne, where larger rival Ryman Healthcare has branched out. Ryman shares increased 0.2 per cent to $13.53, Oceania Healthcare was up 2 per cent at $1.04, Arvida Group was unchanged at $1.40 and Metlifecare decreased 0.2 per cent to $2.275. Outside the benchmark index,

PGG Wrightson resumed trading after a 10-for-1 share consolidation. The rural services firm reported a record annual profit due to a one-off gain on the $434m sale of its seeds division to DLF Seeds, of which it returned $234m to shareholders. The shares, which were adjusted for the consolidation, fell 4.2 per cent to $2.35. SkyCity Entertainment Group

posted the day’s biggest gain, up 3.1 per cent at $4.01. The stock has underperformed the benchmark, with a 13 per cent gain so far this year

compared to a 23 per cent increase for the NZX50. Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund

units recovered some of yesterday’s loss, up 1.1 per cent at $3.61. Fonterra Cooperative Group yesterday put the kybosh on a dividend this year, saying it will report an annual loss of up to $675m with impairment charges of more than $800m worldwide.

Contact Energy increased 0.7 per cent to $8.32 after yesterday reporting a 12 per cent lift in annual operating earnings.

Bank of New Zealand’s 2022 bond paying annual interest of 3.86 per cent was the most traded debt security on a volume of 593,000. The notes closed at a yield of 1.47 per cent, down 1 basis point.