Datacentre investors Infratil and Spark New Zealand cast a pall over the local market, which soured late in the trading day.
That was as equity markets across Asia largely carried on the upbeat tone from Wall Street and Europe, with solid earnings and the flurry of announcements from US President Donald Trump underpinned investor optimism.
Among Trump's early announcements was a US$500 billion partnership including SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle to build more artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US, starting in Texas, which spurred on tech across Asia.
The S&P/NZX 50 index fell for a third day, down 15.76 points, or 0.1%, to 13,037.14, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.3% in afternoon trading and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.5%.
Chinese stock markets were weaker with Trump continuing to inject uncertainty about his tariff regime, saying he could impose a 10% tariff on China as early as next month.
Blue-chip companies were among those weighing on New Zealand’s benchmark index, as Infratil fell 1.5% to $11.72, Spark declined 1.5% to $3.005, Auckland International Airport slipped 0.9% to $8.68 and Air New Zealand decreased 0.8% to 60.5 cents.
The kiwi dollar was little changed, trading at 56.56 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 56.65 cents at 7am and 56.55 cents yesterday.
Genie in the bottle
Statistics New Zealand figures today showed the annual pace of inflation was 2.2% in the December quarter, in line with expectations and keeping intact the view that Reserve Bank will cut the official cash rate half a percentage point next month. `
“With each release, we grow in confidence that the inflation beast is back in its cave,” Kiwibank economists said in a note. “We believe the inflation problem is no more. We believe households and businesses need rate relief. And we believe the RBNZ will be forced (once again) to deliver more, not less.”
Separately, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures showed house sales declined in December, while prices rose modestly for a second month.
Retirement village operators – whose fortunes are often tied to the residential property market – were mixed. Ryman Healthcare fell 0.9% to $4.45, while Summerset Group Holdings gained 0.4% to $13.20 and Oceania Healthcare advanced 2.6% to 80 cents.
Sky Network Television posted the biggest gain on the NZX50, climbing 3.5% to a five-year high on an adjusted basis at $2.99. Some streaming and media companies were buoyed by a strong result from Netflix, which added a record number of subscribers in the December quarter and is hiking prices on most plans in the US and some other countries.
Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units fell 2.2% to $4.88 and Synlait Milk dropped 2.4% to 40.5 cents after milk prices rose at the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, prompting ASB economists to raise their forecast payout at the farmgate – an input cost for the milk processors.
TradeWindow rose 7.5% to 21.5 cents after the software firm said it’s on track to breakeven on an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation basis in the March 2025 year, while Pacific Edge declined 4.9% to 5.8 cents after saying it’s seeking to negotiate re revision of its rejected Medicare coverage before pursuing legal action.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Solen Feyissa on Unsplash.
