Fisher & Paykel Healthcare weighed on the local stock market as the return of US President Donald Trump ushered in fears that the manufacturer’s Mexican operations could be hit with a hefty tariff as early as next month.
Stock markets across Asia pared earlier gains when Trump said he was considering imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada as soon as Feb 1, following reports that he planned to take a measured approach with officials evaluating trading relationships with China, Mexico and Canada before any action was taken.
The kiwi dollar gave back earlier gains, trading at 56.55 US cents at 5pm in Auckland unchanged from 7am and up from 56.212 cents yesterday.
The Trump administration also pulled out of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development-led global tax rules introducing a minimum worldwide corporate rate, saying the regime has no force or effect on the US.
The S&P/NZX 50 index fell for a second day, down 35.41 points, or 0.3%, at 13,052.90. The local was one of the few across Asia to decline, with Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index up 0.7% in late trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.1% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.2%.
F&P Healthcare led the NZX50 lower, sliding 1.8% to $38.30, with its Mexican manufacturing operations at risk of facing the new tariff regime.
Steeling your nerves
Meanwhile, Vulcan Steel surged 6.9% to $8.25, posting the biggest gain on the benchmark index, with the White House assessing the effectiveness of the tariff regime for steel and aluminium imports into the US. Steel & Tube Holdings was unchanged at 83 cents.
Among other stocks to decline, Tourism Holdings fell 1.4% to $2 after announcing the sudden resignation of chief customer and revenue officer Scott Fahey, while Stride Property Group declined 1.5% to $1.30.
Contact Energy slipped 1.5% to $9.40 and Meridian Energy decreased 0.3% to $5.86 after Jarden analysts said new energy margin data indicated Mercury NZ and Genesis Energy were showing signs of beating earnings guidance. Mercury, which also poached a new chief financial officer from Zespri International, gained 0.8% to $6.08 and Genesis increased 0.7% to $2.195.
Retailers were broadly stronger after Statistics New Zealand figures showed December spending on credit and debit cards beat expectations.
“While some of the strength in the December spending figures might prove to be temporary, it still points to a firming in households’ spending appetites,” Westpac NZ senior economist Satish Ranchhod said in a note. “Taking a longer-term perspective, the more general trend in retail spending over the past few months is to the upside, with spending levels having risen for the past five months.”
Trading was again relatively quiet with Spark New Zealand the only company to trade on a volume of more than a million shares, gaining 0.7% to $3.05 – it’s highest close in two months.
Turnover was $82.7 million across the main board.
And on the USX, the Cushing family’s H&G entity attracted more acceptances for its $6.65 a share offer to takeover the farm owner. It’s already passed the 90% threshold needed to mop up holdout shareholders, but hasn’t declared the bid unconditional yet.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Greg Bulla on Unsplash.
