NZ Sharemarket Down 0.7%, Up More Than 1% For Week

The New Zealand sharemarket closed the week on Friday with a fall of more than 0.5% as uncertainty crept in over a peace deal in the Middle East. The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday low of 13,144.36 before closing at 13,175.13, down 95.48 points or 0.72%. The index was up more than 1% for the week and is down 2.6% year-to-date. There were 71 decliners and 62 gainers on the main board, with a total volume of 34.5 million shares worth $140.4m.

The Australian market was under selling pressure, dragged down by the real estate and financial stocks. The dual-listed Westpac declined $2.254 or 4.74% to $45.30 in NZ. The S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 1.44% to 8,749.90 points at 5.55pm NZ time Friday.

At home, Meridian Energy decreased 19c or 3.19% to $5.76; Ebos Group was down 36c to $21.39; a2 Milk declined 17c or 2.09% to $7.98; Port of Tauranga shed 13c to $8.32; and Vital Healthcare Property Trust eased 4.5c or 2.37% to $1.85. Infratil was down 10c to $15.04 after its strong run, and market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare decreased 30c to $35.50.

Gentrack recovered 15c, or 3.8%, to $4.10, with Sydney-based Wilson Asset Management Group giving notice that it was no longer a substantial shareholder.

Fletcher Building was down 9c or 3.09% to $2.82 after announcing it has a conditional agreement to sell its Laminex AU property in Melbourne to Forza Capital for A$53.8m (NZ$65.35m). The sale is expected to be completed by the end of June, and the Laminex business will continue to occupy the site for at least three years. Fletcher expects to record a sales gain of A$14m in its operating earnings (ebit) for the 2026 financial year.

Skellerup increased 14c or 2.35% to a four-year high of $6.09; SkyTV was up 10c or 3.21% to $3.22; Synlait rose 3c or 7.14% to 45c; Vista Group added 4c or 1.92% to $2.12; and Tourism Holdings collected 4c or 1.94% to $2.10. Turners Automotive regained most of the fall of the day before after increasing 21c or 2.36% to $9.11, and 2 Cheap Cars was up a further 2c or 3.23% to 64c.

In the retirement village sector, Summerset was up 8c to 7.92; Ryman Healthcare decreased 2c to $2.23; and Promisia Healthcare increased 2c or 4.35% to 48c. Promisia Healthcare reported the valuation of its five retirement villages and care facilities increased 17.1% to $107.2m at the end of March, with each of its sites increasing in value by at least 10%. Summerset has told the market that sales contracting levels have remained consistent since before the Middle East crisis began. However, the mix between new and resales shifted slightly in favour of new sales.

Manuka honey supplier Comvita, up 3.5c or 5.07% to 72.5c, has achieved its minimum capital raise amount of $25m after 44% of shareholders took up the rights offer, totalling $13.2m, and Singapore-listed Fraser & Neave topped it up with its subscription for a 19.99% shareholding.

Source: Business Desk

Ahead of the local open SPI futures were 1 points lower at 8752.

- close [Morningstar with AAP]: About $43 billion has been wiped from Australia's share market, as oil prices surged after fighting between the US and Iran loomed over hopes of a peace deal.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 133.7 points on Friday, down 1.51 per cent, to 8,744.4, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 126.5 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 8,980.5.

It was the exchange's worst day since mid-March, with 10 of 11 local sectors tumbling after the US and Iran accused each other of breaking an already fragile one-month ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump has claimed negotiations with Iran to end the conflict and reopen the Hormuz Strait - a choke point for a fifth of global oil and gas supplies - remained on track.

While the direction of the ASX move wasn't surprising, its magnitude was, Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

''We're obviously really still underperforming our other global counterparts, despite what's otherwise been a pretty good week,'' he told AAP.

Local stocks were supported on Wednesday and Thursday by hopes of a peace deal and signals the Reserve Bank would now look to hold the cash rate steady after hiking it to 4.35 per cent on Tuesday.

However, most of those gains were wiped on Friday, with the ASX200 limping across the line to break a three-week losing streak by recording a 0.17 per cent advance over the five sessions.

Local banks weighed heavily, with the financials sector tumbling as Westpac led its big four competitors lower with a 4.8 per cent dump to $37.44.

It was a fourth straight week of losses for the segment, which makes up roughly a third of the exchange's total value.

Miners also dragged, down roughly one per cent and tracking with similar dips for BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue, despite iron ore futures holding onto their recent gains.

Gold stocks edged lower, as the precious metal hovered near $US4,728 ($A6,539) an ounce, while battery minerals, copper producers and rare earths miners also fell.

Energy and utilities stocks sold off sharply despite the uplift in oil prices, dropping in-line with segment giants Woodside, Santos and Origin, and indicating an unwinding of index buying in recent days.

It was a similar story in other groupings, with Woolworths, Wesfarmers, Goodman Group and CSL weighing respectively on consumer staples, discretionaries, real estate and health-care stocks.

In company news, Tabcorp has cratered by more than a third since AUSTRAC announced an investigation over "serious concerns" about the group's anti-money laundering obligations.

Credit rating group Fitch said Tabcorp's potential compliance issues were unlikely to immediately impact the gambling group's (BBB/stable) rating.

Light & Wonder was the top-200's best performer, rebounding 11.7 per cent after selling off on the back of Thursday's trading update.

The Australian dollar is buying 72.24 US cents, down from 72.50 US cents on Friday at 5pm, trading near four-year highs since the Reserve Bank hiked the cash interest rate to 4.35 per cent on Tuesday.

ON THE ASX:

The S&P/ASX200 tumbled 133.7 points, or 1.51 per cent, to 8,744.4

The broader All Ordinaries fell 126.5 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 8,980.5

The NZX 50 Lost -46.17 points (-0.35%) to 13128.96

Companies Holding Annual General Meeting (ASX 300):

Turaco Gold Limited

Companies commencing Ex-Dividend Trading Today (ASX 300):

ANZ Group Holdings Limited

[Morningstar with Dow Jones]:

U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA was unchanged at 49,609.16, the S&P 500 gained 0.8% to 7,398.93 and the Nasdaq climbed 1.7% to 26,247.08.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Akamai Technologies Inc AKAM surging 26.54%, SanDisk Corp SNDK jumped 16.53%, and Micron Technology Inc MU lifted 15.48%.

The biggest decliners were Mettler-Toledo International Inc MTD which dropped 14.70%, Motorola Solutions Inc MSI fell 11.42%, and Expedia Group Inc EXPE lost 9.10%.

Asia

Chinese shares closed mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was unchanged at 4,179.95 and the Shenzhen Composite Index lifted 0.1% to 2,875.75.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 0.9% to 26,393.71.

Japanese shares ended lower. The Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.2% to 62,713.65.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX fell 0.7% to 77,328.19.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.4% to 10,233.07. In Europe, shares closed lower. The Germany's DAX slipped 1.3% to 24,338.63, and the France's CAC 40 declined 1.1% to 8,112.57