MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares fall, following Wall Street lower; Tower, A2, Steel & Tube drop

New Zealand shares fell in relatively quiet trading, following Wall Street's lead and as oil prices continue downwards. Tower, A2 Milk Co and Steel & Tube declined.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index dropped 67.65 points, or 1.1 percent, to 6101.44. Within the index, 40 stocks fell, seven were unchanged and three rose. Turnover was a lighter than usual $74 million.

As across the Tasman, where the ASX200 closed down 0.7 percent, the fall was less than US, Europe and Asian exchanges, which fell between 2% and 3% on Friday and Saturday NZ time.

The dearth of local corporate news has meant local traders are following global markets more closely, and the sell-off in international equities has been exacerbated by a glut of oil supply pushing prices to 12-year lows. That helped pushed the index to a one-month low of 6036.33 today.

Many investors are "on ice" as they await China's fourth quarter and full-year gross domestic product report - due at 10am tomorrow in Beijing, or 3pm NZ time - and to see how stocks on Wall Street react after the Martin Luther King Day holiday, said Shane Solly, director at Harbour Asset Management.

"Today's fall is on quiet to modest trading - volumes are still way down, and the market had had a very solid performance towards the end of last year," Solly said.

Stocks on Wall Street continued to drop on Friday, with the S&P 500 index falling 2.2 percent, taking its decline this year to 8 percent. Other stock markets have been even harder hit, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 11 percent so far this year, Japan's Nikkei 225 index falling 9.9 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite index down 18 percent.

Harbour's Solly said New Zealand has been more insulated from global downward forces. The NZX 50 has fallen 3.5 percent since trading began for the year, while the ASX 200 is down 8.4 percent.

Tower led the index down, falling 5.1 percent to $1.78, an 18-month low. A2 Milk fell 4 percent to $1.69, and Steel & Tube shed 3.1 percent to $2.22.

Nuplex Industries fell 2.4 percent to $4.41, Fisher & Paykel dropped 2.3 percent to $8.35, Restaurant Brands New Zealand declined 2.3 percent to $4.25, and Fletcher Building shed 2.2 percent to $6.78.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group slipped 2.1 percent to $26.28, Skellerup Holdings dropped 2.1 percent to $1.43, and Diligent Corp lost 2 percent to $6.

The top performer of today was Goodman Property Trust, which rose 0.8 percent to $1.26. Summerset Group gained 0.8 percent to $3.98, and Ryman Healthcare rounded out the gainers, up 0.6 percent to $8.26.

(BusinessDesk)