Building activity slowed in March quarter.
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index fell for a third day as tensions in the Middle East continued to keep investors on edge, while Ngāi Tahu’s sale of half its Sanford stake prompted a little portfolio rejigging to buy some discounted fishing shares.
Building products firms and property developers were broadly weaker after Statistics New Zealand figures showed a softer pace of construction activity in the first three months of the year, with Vulcan Steel having its heaviest trading day since September.
Spark New Zealand continued to plumb new 15-year lows as it remained a drag on the wider board, with Goodman New Zealand, Infratil and A2 Milk Co also headwinds for the NZX50.
And retailers including Briscoe Group, Hallenstein Glasson Holdings and KMD Brands were softer despite ANZ saying its customers spent more on their credit and debit cards through May.
The NZX50 decreased 13.47 points, or 0.1%, to 13,101.61, with 28 stocks declining, 20 gaining, one unchanged and one in a trading halt. The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for June fell 0.4% to 7,416, with 50 lots traded for a value of $371,000. The NZX20 was marginally lower at 7,432.92.
Turnover across the main board was $154.3 million, of which Fisher & Paykel Healthcare accounted for $15.8 million as the medical device maker slipped 0.2% to $36.84.
Fishing group Sanford had trading of its shares halted for the day to let Ngāi Tahu sell half its stake in a block trade at a $7.15 per share, a 3.6% discount to the $7.42 price they closed at on Wednesday. Forsyth Barr was hired to run the block trade and underwrote it.
“That’s quite a tight discount,” said Greg Smith, investment specialist at Generate Investment Management.
Sanford shares have gained 0.3% so far this year, outperforming the 3.3% decline on the NZX50, having surged 74% in 2025, its best year on an adjusted basis since 1992.
New Zealand’s benchmark fared better than most Asia stock markets on Thursday as investors remained uneasy about the tensions between the US and Iran. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1.2% in late trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.4%. The kiwi dollar pared some of its decline, trading at 58.73 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 59.13 cents yesterday, while Brent crude oil futures dipped 0.9% to US$96.97 a barrel.
“It’s a down day, but we’re coming off a good month,” Generate’s Smith said. “There’s such a wide gulf of probabilities about what might happen in Iran.”
Among the larger companies weighing down the NZX50, Goodman NZ fell 2.4% to $2.01, Infratil dipped 0.7% to $15.20 and A2 Milk fell 2.9% to $6.40.
Spark was again a drag on the bourse, falling 1.9% to $1.84, having touched a fresh 15-year low of $1.82 during the session.
Fletcher Building declined 1.6% to $7.102, joining other construction-exposed firms lower after Stats NZ figures showed the volume of building work put in place missed many economists’ expectations in the March quarter.
Steel & Tube Holdings fell 2.7% to 36 cents, while developers CDL Investments and Winton Land dropped 1.4% to 71 cents and 3.1% to $1.55 respectively. Metro Performance Glass was untraded at $1.20.
Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics, said non-residential work was busier than he’d predicted, with residential activity in line with his expectations, and that he hadn’t seen the impact of higher fuel prices on consents or construction activity yet.
“Recent consent data suggests we should see more of a stabilisation in residential work put in place in coming quarters,” Kiernan said in a note. “Non-residential consents have also largely stabilised since early 2025, but longer lead times mean it could be the end of this year before non-residential activity levels off.”
Vulcan Steel declined 0.5% to $6.09 on an unusually large volume of 1.9 million shares, the bulk of which crossed in two trades at $6 a share.
Retailers were broadly softer despite ANZ card spending figures showing customers of the country’s biggest bank spent more on discretionary items in May.
Briscoe fell 1.5% to $4.50, Hallenstein Glasson declined 1.3% to $9.86 and KMD slipped 1.3% to 7.6 cents, while outside the benchmark index, Warehouse Group was unchanged at its all-time low 61 cents and Michael Hill International decreased 1.3% to 39 cents.
Serko posted the biggest decline on the NZX, falling 4% to $1.56.
Stock market operator NZX decreased 0.7% to $1.34 after its latest operating metrics showed a pickup in trading volumes and values in May.
Meridian Energy posted the biggest gain on the day, up 2.1% at $5.91, while Port of Tauranga advanced 2% to $4.10 and Gentrack extended its rally for a fourth day, up 1.7% at $4.10.
Outside the benchmark, Me Today increased 2%, or 0.1 of a cent, to 5 cents after saying its Chinese partner had achieved sufficient revenue to lift its ownership of the Me Today China brand to 40%.
And Pacific Edge was the most heavily traded stock on the day with a volume of almost 2.5 million shares changing hands, with the stock unchanged at 28 cents.
Reporting by Paul McBeth.
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