NZ sharemarket down as Mainfreight, utilities move

On the main board, the S&P/NZX 50 Index closed down 0.25% or 32.23 points, falling to 12,823.74, after 35.3 million shares changed hands to the value of $153.8m.

The S&P/NZX 20 index closed at 7503.77, down 0.45%, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,522.19, falling 0.62%.

There were 86 gainers on the main board and 53 decliners.

Mainfreight was the big mover again following its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, with $26.92m worth of shares changing hands, losing 1.33%.

Craigs Investment Partners investment director Mark Lister said Mainfreight’s margins in particular were much lower than investors were expecting.

“It just looks like they’ve had a really tough start to the 2026 financial year. I think everyone knows and believes that it’s a great business for the long term, but over the near term, meaning the next six months to 12 months, uncertainty is high,” Lister said.

Craigs analysts also downgraded the business and said the short-term outlook was uncertain, but the firm liked the long-term growth potential of the business.

Utilities busy

Utility shares had plenty of movement, including Infratil which had $13.41m worth of shares change hands as it shed 37c.

Spark also traded in high volume after 5.43m shares changed hands to the value of $13.23m losing 0.61%.

Meanwhile, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare rose 0.11% late in the day lifting its share price to $36.80, as did Contact Energy, which had 1.12m shares change hands, lifting it to $9.11.

United States

In the US overnight, the Federal Reserve met with no change to interest rates. Lister said Jerome Powell was probably a little more hawkish than people were expecting.

Tech giants Meta and Microsoft also both released strong results, with Microsoft’s reporting profit of US$27.2 billion ($33.4b) because of its AI and cloud growth, while Meta beat expectations, reporting a revenue jump of 22% year on year to US$47.5 billion ($58.3b).

“All eyes will be on Amazon and Apple overnight tonight, and then so you’ve got some really big economic releases on Friday in the US including the jobs report, which is a key one.”

Overseas news

Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates flat and refrained from signalling it will soon cut interest rates.

The Fed, as expected, held interest rates steady, despite relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump for an interest rate cut. In a press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell emphasised future monetary policy decisions would depend on economic data.

“Powell sounded more hawkish than what markets were hoping for,” said Angelo Kourkafas of Edward Jones.

Lower odds

Futures markets lowered their odds for a September interest rate cut following the press conference and statement, which included no major tweaks that would have implied an imminent interest rate cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.4% at 44,461.28.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.1% to 6362.90, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2% to 21,129.67.

Earlier, economic data showed the US economy returned to expansion in the second quarter, notching 3% growth after a contraction in the first quarter.

But GDP in both quarters was heavily influenced by import activity in response to Trump’s aggressive trade policy.

– Additional reporting AFP