New Zealand shares petered out ahead of US employment data seen as central to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming rate cuts, as Infratil and Fisher & Paykel’s lofty heights underpinned the weekly gain.
The S&P/NZX 50
NZ shares fall to end the week - Market close
By Paul McBeth
BusinessDesk columnist·NZME.·
3 mins to read
Freightways led the benchmark index lower on Friday, falling 3.9% to $9.35.
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Infratil edged up 0.04% to $11.90 on a volume of 1.8 million, taking its weekly gain to 7.8% as analysts reassessed the infrastructure investor’s CDC Data Centres business after the A$24 billion ($26b) AirTrunk deal across the Tasman.
Meanwhile, F&P Healthcare slipped 0.3% to $37.40, paring its weekly gain to 5.1%. The medical devices maker has rallied since raising its earnings outlook last month.
Freightways led the benchmark index lower on Friday, falling 3.9% to $9.35, while Skellerup declined 3.2% to $4.80 and Scales Corp slipped 2.7% to $3.64.
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Hallenstein Glasson Group gave up some of Thursday’s gains on its earnings outlook, falling 3% to $6.21, to end the week up 4%. Other retailers were mixed, with Warehouse Group sliding 1.6% to $1.24, KMD Brands unchanged at 55c and Briscoe Group rising 1.5% to $4.75.
Air NZ declined 0.9% to 55.5c. Jarden analysts lowered their 12-month price target on the national carrier to 57c from 60c, while retaining their neutral rating.
Tourism Holdings fell 2.4% to $2.08 and Auckland International Airport increased 0.5% to $7.54.
Stride Property posted the biggest gain on the NZX 50, up 2.9% at $1.42, while ANZ Group rose 2.1% to $34.40.
Synlait Milk increased 1.2% to 41c after the Takeovers Panel and NZ RegCo rejected a complaint by founder and minority shareholder John Penno over the milk processor’s planned capital raising, which will heavily dilute the holdings of small investors. The a2 Milk Co, which is participating in the capital raising, rose 0.3% to $6.04.
Spark NZ was the most heavily traded major company, with 2.3 million shares traded. It closed unchanged at $3.52, having shed 2% this week as investors continued to weigh up the sustainability of its dividends with its aspirations to invest in data centres.
Among other companies trading on volumes of more than a million shares, Precinct Properties NZ declined 1.5% to $1.28 with 2.2 million shares traded, Vital Healthcare Property Trust slipped 0.3% to $1.935 on a volume of 2.1 million and Heartland Group fell 1.8% to $1.08 with 1.2 million shares changing hands.
Fletcher Building slipped 0.7% to $2.83 on a volume of 1.3 million. The building materials firm sank 7.8% this week as it pivots under the new leadership of Andrew Reding, who’s tasked with turning around the company’s fortunes.
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