New Zealand Shares Muted Amid Mixed Asia Performance; AIA Up Past 2%

MT Newswires Live2024-12-05

New Zealand shares were flat Thursday while Asian shares traded mixed despite extended record gains on Wall Street.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was little changed at 12,896.95.

The index has lost 1.3% over the past five trading days.

Among Asian peers, Shanghai's SSE and Japan's Nikkei 225 were muted, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1%. South Korea's KOSPI Index was down 0.5% as the country plunged into political turmoil in the wake of the now-revoked martial law.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% to close above 45,000 for the first time, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit new records and were up 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively.

In domestic news, total new lending rose to NZ$12.06 billion in October from NZ$11.95 billion in September, data from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand showed Thursday.

In construction, the actual value of building work fell 7.2% year on year to NZ$8.7 billion in the September quarter. On a seasonal basis, building volume fell 3.2% compared with the prior three-month period.

Elsewhere, New Zealand's property sector has entered a "Goldilocks market," which will benefit both buyers and sellers, according to a report from Realestate.co.nz published Tuesday.

In corporate news, Fonterra Co-operative Group (NZE:FCG) raised the midpoint of its forecast farmgate milk price for the 2024 to 2025 season by NZ$0.5 to NZ$10 per kilogram of milksolids.

The dairy company also kept its fiscal 2025 earnings forecast of NZ$0.40 to NZ$0.60 per share as it reported a profit after tax of NZ$263 million in the first quarter. Shares were down marginally at market close.

Auckland International Airport (NZE:AIA, ASX:AIA) gained over 2% Thursday when it resumed trading following the completion of Auckland Council's disposal of its remaining 9.71% stake in the company.

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