Wall Street is poised for a soft start to the month.
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New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index joined the S&P/ASX 200 index lower in a mixed day for Asia as an outage across the Tasman disrupted the flow of price sensitive market releases on the ASX, while Bitcoin sank lower and futures pointed to a soft start to the month for Wall Street.
Exporters a2 Milk Co and Sanford led the local bourse lower in relatively quiet trading, as investors stayed on the sidelines amid the heightened volatility and as the kiwi dollar nudged higher.
Building materials firms including Fletcher Building, Vulcan Steel, Steel & Tube Holdings and Metro Performance Glass rallied after Statistics New Zealand figures showed consents for new housing remained robust in October, although developers Winton Land and CDL Investments were on the red side of the ledger.
And KMD Brands gained amid reports across the Tasman that the retailer has received separate bids for its Kathmandu and Rip Curl businesses.
The NZX50 fell 40.66 points, or 0.3%, to 13,448.49, with 27 stocks declining, 18 gaining and five unchanged. Turnover was $118.8 million, of which Meridian Energy accounted for $x million as it fell 0.9% to $5.58.
Markets across Asia were mixed, with Australia’s ASX200 down 0.4% in late trading, having been disrupted by a three-hour ASX outage blocking the release of price sensitive announcements and putting about 80 companies’ stocks on trading halts.
New Zealand’s stock market operator NZX was unchanged at $1.52.
Across Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.9% in late trading after Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank will weigh the pros and cons of raising its key interest rate this month, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.8% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index increased 0.2%.
Risk sentiment was generally sour, with S&P 500 futures pointing to a 0.6% decline when Wall Street opens, while Bitcoin sank 5.5% to US$86,361. The Smart Bitcoin exchange traded fund was down 4.4% at $3.319.
Still, the kiwi dollar held on to its marginal gains, trading at 57.36 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 57.33 cents at 7am and 57.21 cents last week.
Exporters led New Zealand’s benchmark index lower, with Sanford posting the biggest decline as it fell 4.3% to $7.17, while a2 Milk slipped 3.1% to $10.65, while retailers were broadly softer as Hallenstein Glasson Holdings declined 1.6% to $9.67 and Briscoe Group fell 0.4% to $5.31.
Retailer KMD Brands increased 1.9% to 27.5 cents after The Australian’s DataRoom column reported the retailer has received separate bids for its Kathmandu and Rip Curl brands, while the National Business Review reported it has no plans to sell any brands.
Building materials firms rallied after Stats NZ data showed new residential building consents continue to indicate a turn in the construction cycle is approaching.
“Talking to builders and developers around the country in recent months, we’re still hearing reports of tough trading conditions,” Westpac NZ senior economist Satish Ranchhod said in a note. “But we’re also hearing increased optimism about the year ahead as a result of lower interest rates. That’s seen developers starting to bring more projects to market.”
Fletcher Building rose 2.4% to $3.43, while Vulcan Steel advanced 0.8% to $8.06. Outside the top 50, Steel & Tube was unchanged at 62.5 cents, and Metroglass increased 2.1% to 4.9 cents.
Developers didn’t fare so well, with Winton down 1% at $2.06 and CDL Investments declining 1.2% to 79.5 cents.
Vista Group International led the NZX50 higher, rising 3.9% to $2.70 after Milford Asset Management said it’s lifted its stake of the cinema analytics firm to 9.1% from 7.4%.
Air New Zealand was unchanged at 59.5 cents. The airline was back to normal operations after weekend flights were disrupted by the Airbus recall, which required a software upgrade.
Spark New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock on the day, with a volume of 1.9 million shares, as it rose 0.9% to $2.28.
Reporting by Paul McBeth.
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