Very quiet day on the NZX as investors await earnings

The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 closed 0.45% higher on Monday at 12,910.74 points. The index has steadily gained since June, but remains over 1% down in the year-to-date.

With 22.7 million shares valued at $74 million changing hands, Salt Funds Management managing director Matt Goodson said it was “a very quiet day of trading”.

“There has been very light turnover in certain names,” he said, highlighting volumes of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare had not reached 50,000 by 4pm.

A late surge helped Fisher & Paykel Healthcare volumes reach 144,000. The stock rose 0.74% to $36.57.

The NZX

Goodson highlighted both Auckland International Airport and Freightways Group as the day’s best performers, though he did not identify any clear reasons for the gains.

Auckland Airport was up 1.43% to $7.78, and Freightways lifted 1.77% to $11.51, on trading volumes worth over $2m.

Goodson said it was good to see Auckland Airport “catch a bid” after news its business was not under threat of increased regulation was “ignored” by markets.

Spark shares gained 0.4% to $2.49 after it unveiled a board refresh and appointed three new independent directors.

Alongside the announcement, chair Justine Smyth gave the first official indication that the company was looking for her replacement, saying, “The board’s process for chair succession will continue.”

Though he did not want to offer a view on who was likely to be chosen as chair, Goodson said that if the company announces a replacement for Smyth, it would indicate a rumoured takeover is unlikely.

“There was a bit of vague takeover speculation a few weeks ago in The Australian, which was what gave the share price its initial impetus.

“It'd be surprising to see [the chair] change over if there was anything to that takeover speculation.”

Infrastructure investment firm Infratil was up 2.18% to $11.70 and is now up by more than 10% in the last month.

After peaking at $13.15 in October, Infratil's share price started falling late last year, sinking below $10 in April before recovering.

In that time, a series of ongoing disclosure and substantial product holder (SPH) notices on the NZX show executives and directors of Infratil and its management company, Morrison & Co, progressively increasing their exposure.

Small caps and the US

Small-cap skincare company Me Today shares fell 1.18% to 8.4 cents after announcing it had failed to find a buyer for its struggling honey operation, King Honey.

2 Cheap Cars Group shares were down 1.56% to 63 cents after it told the market that while it expects vehicle sales to exceed those in 2025, it anticipates net profit after tax (Npat) to fall year-on-year.

Goodson pointed out that the guidance contrasted with an update from The Colonial Motor Company last week, in which it signalled “pockets” of recovery in the “wider vehicle market”.

He put this down to 2 Cheap Cars being highly exposed to Auckland, where economic recovery has been slower.

“It's a classic Kiwi recovery taking shape, where parts of the rural sector are doing extremely well at the moment, but the cities less so.”

In world markets, United States futures lifted after Washington sealed a trade deal with the European Union.
The EU accepted a broad 15% tariff on major exports and committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars on US energy and defence products.

At 5pm, S&P 500 futures were up 0.46% and Nasdaq Composite futures were up 0.61%.