NZX50 sinks on return from long weekend; My Food Bag rallies on review

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index tumbled in its return from the long weekend, in a mixed day across Asia as Brent crude price pushed higher amid the stalemate between the US and Iran, and as health stocks such as Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Ebos Group remained out of favour after ASX-listed Cochlear’s profit warning last week.

Channel Infrastructure was among the day’s gainers after Ampol-owned Z Energy won the tender to supply 90 million litres of diesel at the Marsden Point import terminal’s extended storage by late June.

Stock market operator NZX pushed go on its new S&P/NZX 20 index futures product, with the Accident Compensation Corp and Jarden Securities first out of the blocks to make a trade.

And My Food Bag jumped near a five-month high after the foodkit company tapped Cameron Partners to help run the rule over its business as a soggy share price struggles to reflect an improving outlook for the business.

Shaky start

The NZX50 touched a four-week low as it dropped 110.54 points, or 0.9%, to 12,764.4, with 29 stocks falling, 16 gaining and five unchanged. Turnover across the main board was $211 million, of which Fisher & Paykel Healthcare accounted for $24.2 million as it slipped 0.7% to $35.72.

Stocks across Asia were mixed as Brent crude oil futures pressed higher, up 1.2% at US$109.55 a barrel at 5pm in Auckland as the US and Iran discuss the latest proposal to break the impasse. The Polymarket prediction market is pricing in a 29% chance of a permanent peace by the end of May and a 41% chance by the end of June.

Carrier Air New Zealand declined 3.4% to 43 cents.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.6% in late trading and Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.9% after the Bank of Japan kept its overnight call rate at 0.75% as expected, with the Middle East conflict and energy price spike keeping the outlook uncertain. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.8% after it eclipsed the London Stock Exchange as the world’s eighth-largest stock market.

“Our market feels a bit heavy across the board – there’s not too many redeeming features today,” said Matt Goodson, managing director at Salt Funds Management.

Trans-Tasman investor sentiment remained cool on health stocks after Cochlear’s profit warning last week, with Ebos Group joining F&P Healthcare as it slid 2.2% to $20.98.

Meanwhile, retirement village operators gave up some of Friday’s gains, with Ryman Healthcare posting the biggest decline on the day, falling 4.8% to $2.17 and Summerset Group Holdings falling 3.3% to $8.14. Oceania Healthcare was unchanged at 73 cents.

Please explain

Energy companies were broadly weaker, with Vector falling 3% to $4.79, Contact Energy slipping 1.2% to $9.23, Meridian Energy down 1.1% at $5.53 and Mercury NZ decreasing 0.7% to $6.67 after the Electricity Authority said it’s sought an explanation behind the pace of price hikes. Genesis Energy rose 1.3% to $2.38.

KMD Brands posted the steepest gain on the day, up 4.8%, or 0.3 of a cent, at 6.5 cents, while software companies Serko and Gentrack were near the top of the leaderboard, up 4.1% at $1.77 and 2.9% at $5.97 respectively.

Fletcher Building rose 0.4% to $2.78 after it said it sold its reinforcing and wire business for $15.7 million as it continues to streamline the group. Fletcher expects to recognise a loss of $20 million-to-$23 million on the sale.

The building materials firm was the most heavily traded stock with a volume of 5.5 million shares changing hands, including a single trade of 4 million shares at $2.7355 apiece.

Channel Infrastructure advanced 1.3% to $3.03 after the government named Z Energy as the supplier of nine days of diesel to be stored at the Marsden Point extension currently being upgraded.

NZX was unchanged at $1.40 after the stock exchange’s S&P/NZX 20 index futures product launched today. The NZX20 futures contract for June fell 0.8% to 7,224, with 285 lots traded on a value of $2.1 million according to Iress data. The NZX20 index fell 1% to 7,201.92.

Outside the benchmark index, My Food Bag rose 8.3% to 26 cents after the foodkit company hired Cameron Partners to help review its ownership, capital structure and strategic options as the share price has failed to reflect its improving fortunes. Continuing as an NZX-listed company is one of the options being considered.

Salt’s Goodson said the foodkit company put itself up for sale, having stabilised the business after listing during the frothy post-covid environment.

The kiwi dollar traded at 58.99 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 59.09 cents at 7am and still up from 58.53 cents last week after Statistics New Zealand figures showed a 0.3% increase in filled jobs in March.

Separately, Reserve Bank figures showed the central bank bought a net $562 million of New Zealand dollars in March, its biggest net purchase of the local currency in a month since it started publishing data on its foreign currency assets and liabilities in 2004. The trade-weighted index fell below 66 in March for the first time since July 2009.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Curious News.