New Zealand shares fell on Tuesday as recently listed Mighty River Power continued to dominate trading, dropping to within 1 cent of last week’s offering price. P
The NZX 50 Index declined 25.78 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 4645.85. Within the index, 29 stocks fell, nine rose and 12 were unchanged. Turnover was $163 million.
MightyRiverPower fell 3.8 per cent to $2.51 as 19.9 million of its 1.4 billion shares changed hands, valued at $51m. Fletcher Building gained 0.7 per cent to $8.61 and was the second-most most traded at about $44m of stock.
Greg Easton, an adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said some retail investors had picked up more stock that they’d expected in the IPO, after the company mostly confined its scaling to fund manager allocations.
“Initially there was talk that allocations would be scaled a little and they were not,” he said.
“A bit of the gloss is coming off today,” Mr Easton said of trading across the NZX.
Telecom declined 1.1 per cent to $2.675. Sky Network Television, the pay-TV operator, fell 2.2 per cent to $5.47
Air New Zealand, the government controlled airline slated for further selldown, rose 2 per cent to $1.53, leading stocks higher after announcing ex-Foodstuffs boss Tony Carter as chairman.
Infratil rose 0.4 per cent to $2.44 after posting results showing writedowns on its UK airports, which it is trying to sell in a difficult market, eroded net profit.
Wrightson, the nation’s largest rural services company, fell 10 per cent to 35 cents after it said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation will be between $40m and $48m in the 12 months ended June 30, down from $55m in 2012. It blamed dry conditions in New Zealand and Australia.
Warehouse Group fell 1.6 per cent to $4.30 after government figures showed retail sales rose a smaller-than-expected 0.5 per cent, seasonally adjusted, to $17.62 billion in the three months ended March 31, from a revised quarterly pace of 1.9 per cent in the December quarter.
