Wall Street had its worst day since June, prompting the NZ market to follow it lower. Photo / AP
New Zealand’s market was down by more than 1 per cent today after Wall Street’s worst day since June. The impact trickled into NZ’s market as soon as it opened this morning.
CMC Markets analyst
Tina Teng said Wall Street had a broad-based sell-off because of risk aversion ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium this week.
The annual meeting of the Kansas City Federal Reserve is attended by central bankers, economists and policymakers from across the world.
This year, Federal Reserve officials may provide clues about the Fed’s future rate hike path and Teng said a jump in bond yields had suggested a more aggressive interest rate increase next month might be on the table.
The S&P/NZX 50 index fell 120.7 points, or 1.03 per cent, to 11,643.21. Turnover on the main board was $116.5 million.
Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said Wall Street had a “major influence” on NZ’s market today, as it fell by more than 1 per cent by midday before clawing back some ground by the close.
Media company NZME reported its earnings for the six months ended June today, announcing it had boosted its profit by 37 per cent as advertising revenue recovered to pre-Covid levels despite exceptionally weak consumer confidence. It reported a net profit of $8.5m in its half-year period, up from $6.2m in the prior comparable period.
Jarden head of research Arie Dekker said in a note this morning that NZME continued to “meet expectations” but the company needed to continue providing confidence in its ability to lift digital revenues – especially from its OneRoof and digital subscriptions. The firm’s shares were down 3.2 per cent to $1.22 by the end of the day.
Aged-care facility company Summerset Group rose 0.4 per cent to $11.59 after it released its half-year profits for the six months to June 30. Summerset said its underlying profit for the six months was $82.5m, up 9.2 per cent on the year – but net profit of $134.6m was down 49 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
Ryman Residential Healthcare was down 2.4 per cent to $9.33 with Radius Residential Healthcare flat at 36 cents.
Telecommunications company Spark is reporting its full-year earnings tomorrow and the company was down 0.19 per cent to $5.29 today. Wholesale broadband provider Chorus, which reported its full-year result yesterday, was down 1.5 per cent to $7.86.
Heartland Bank released its full-year results to June 30 today, posting a record net profit of $95.1m.
The bank said it plans a $200m equity raise to help retire debt used to fund its recent Australian acquisition, as well as fund growth for its business. The company’s shares were flat at $2.12 per share by the end of the day.
Westpac fell 1.7 per cent to $23.65 and ANZ Bank was also down 1.7 per cent to $25. Tomorrow, logistics firm Move Logistics and healthcare distributor and wholesaler Ebos Group are reporting full-year earnings. Ebos was down 1.3 per cent to $38.02, and Move Logistics was up 1.5 per cent to $1.33.
Fellow logistics company Freightways was up 3.1 per cent to $9.85. Peter McIntyre said Freightways had the “best performance” on the index today, helped by the firm revealing yesterday that it had acquired Australian courier business Allied Express for A$160m in cash and shares, alongside its full-year result.
Index heavyweight and medical device manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 2.5 per cent to $19.95.
On the currency front, the NZ dollar was sitting at 61.90 US cents at 3pm today, down from 62.31 US cents yesterday.
– BusinessDesk
