Overseas interest rises weigh on local prices

Six central banks this week raised interest rates to fight inflation and the New Zealand sharemarket was finally affected by weaker share prices overseas, falling by nearly 1 per cent. The S&P/NZX50 Index closed 83.49 points or 0.72 per cent down at 11,434.82. The index declined nearly 1.3 per cent this week, and by 12.5 per cent so far this year.

There were 51 gainers and 85 decliners over the whole market on volume of 28.21 million share transactions worth $95.6m.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 1.92 per cent to 6571.8 at 6pm NZ time.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said markets were feeling bruised and battered and New Zealand was not immune.

“There is some data coming out that inflation is peaking, and markets do recover but it does take time. Everyone has a clear view of what the central banks are doing — there is a massive re-set of interest rates — and this has dampened market sentiment.

“With the cost of living and interest rates going up, the discretionary consumer stocks were weak,” said Solly.

The US 10-year Treasury note yield increased 0.18 per cent to 3.715 per cent and the NZ dollar weakened further. It was at

A88.10c against the Australian dollar, a fiveyear low, and US58.26c against the United States dollar.

Among the local stocks, a2 Milk fell 29c or 4.62 per cent to $5.99; Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 46c or 2.35 per cent to $19.10; and Briscoe Group declined 7c to $5.32.

KMD Brands and Michael Hill bucked the trend, rising 3c or 2.91 per cent to $1.06 and 3c or 2.4 per cent to $1.28 respectively.

Spark was down 12c or 2.3 per cent to $5.09; Ebos Group declined 50c to $38.05; Fletcher Building decreased 10c or 1.9 per cent to $5.16; and Delegat Group shed 15c to $10.80.

Among the energy stocks, Mercury was down 9.5c to $5.905; Genesis declined 5.5c or 1.87 per cent to $2.89; and Manawa was up 7c to $5.93.

Turners Automotive shed 7c or 1.9 per cent to $3.61; Plexure Group fell 3.5c or

9.09 per cent to 35c; Accordant Group was down 4c or 2.15 per cent to $1.82; and Heartland Group declined 4c or 2.22 per cent to $1.76.

Auckland International Airport gained 5c to $7.62 on trade worth $10.96m;

Summerset Group increased 9c to $10.79;

Skellerup Holdings was up 11c or 2.01 per cent to $5.59; Freightways added 14c to $10.20; and Port of Tauranga rose 19c or

2.97 per cent to $6.59.