MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares mixed, Fisher & Paykel, Air NZ drop while Kiwi Property rebounds

Thursday 18th January 2018

New Zealand shares were mixed as Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell on the stronger Kiwi dollar while property stocks rebounded from earlier selling.

The S&P/NZX50 Index fell 25 points, or 0.3 percent, to 8,272.67. Within the index, 26 stocks rose, 18 fell, and six were unchanged. Turnover was $102 million.

"The Kiwi dollar has been going up, so currency-dependent companies are a bit weaker today - stocks like Fisher & Paykel Healthcare," said Craig Stent, executive director and head of equities at Harbour Asset Management. "Liquidity is very quiet still, there is not much activity to be honest."

Fisher & Paykel fell 1.7 percent to $13.16.

Ryman Healthcare led the index lower, down 3.5 percent to $10.27, with Trustpower falling 2.2 percent to $5.81.

Air New Zealand dropped 1.7 percent to $2.89. Stent said the stock had been falling due to continued strength in oil prices and expectations the company may find business a bit tougher due to increased costs.

Property companies, which have declined recently, rebounded somewhat today. Kiwi Property Group gained 1.8 percent to $1.39, Property for Industries gained 0.6 percent to $1.665, and Argosy Property rose 0.5 percent to $1.075.

"Growth globally is still pretty strong, the bond market has been selling off so interest rates are going up and that affects the attractiveness of the property sector and other bond-sensitive companies," Stent said. "The NZ market has probably under-performed in the first month of this year relative to Australia, because we are a bond-sensitive market. The sector has been under pressure for the past couple of days and has bounced today, although not materially."

New Zealand Refining dropped 0.8 percent to $2.62. The country's only refinery operator lifted processing fee income 19 percent in 2017 as it enjoyed wider margins in the year, helping offset a lower volume during the pipeline outage in September.

Fletcher Building fell 1.7 percent to $7.58, while NZX dropped 0.9 percent to $1.13. The New Zealand stock exchange found Fletcher Building did not breach continuous disclosure rules in relation to two forecast earnings downgrades last year.

(BusinessDesk)

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