“We are back to the tit-for-tat negotiating process in the US-Iran war and oil prices are back up (Brent Crude was trading at US$78.36 a barrel) – and this has taken the steam out of offshore markets.”
Solly said the latest BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) was a lot better than expected and it showed the underlying resilience of the New Zealand economy “which is coming out the other side stronger than people thought. The economy is well placed to benefit from lower oil prices”.
The June PMI increased to 59.7, up from 51.3 in May and 50.6 in April, and indicated the manufacturing sector as a whole was expanding. The survey’s long-term average is 52.5.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 576 points or 1.09% to 52,348.39; S&P 500 declined 0.28% to 7482.71; and Nasdaq Composite decreased 0.2% to 25,870.65.
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.39% to 8750.8 points at 6pm NZ time.
At home, Fletcher Building rose 19c or 5.6% to $3.61 after increasing its full-year 2026 operating earnings (ebit) guidance by 6.4% to $400m-$403m, including $52m from surplus property sales.
Fletcher told the market that volumes improved across core manufacturing and distribution divisions, albeit supported in some cases by temporary market dynamics.
Existing construction activity continued to support demand, but input cost uncertainty was resulting in delays or cancellations of new projects, particularly in the commercial sector,” the company said.
Solly said the market hads been on tenterhooks waiting for any downgrades and “with Fletcher we had a constructive increase in guidance”.
Market leaders
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 45c to $40.25 on trade worth $23.27m; Infratil rose 46c or 3.06% to $15.50; Freightways collected 29c or 2.11% to $14.04; Port of Tauranga gained 23c or 2.7% to $8.76; and Ebos Group increased 40-c or 1.84% to $22.15.
Goodman NZ increased 4c or 1.94% to $2.10; Delegat Group was up 8c or 1.9% to $4.28; Santana Minerals gained 1.5 or 2.8% to 55c; and Synlait Milk picked up 1c or 2.74% to 37.5c.
Carpet maker Bremworth fell 6c or 8% to 69c after its board abandoned the scheme of arrangement with Floorscape following shareholder opposition.
Vista Group declined 7c or 2.85% to $2.39; Serko was down 4c or 2.68% to $1.45; Ryman Healthcare shed 4c or 1.82% to $2.16; and SkyCity fell 2c or 3.6% to 53.5c.
Other decliners were T&G Global down 6c or 2.45% to $2.39; Rua Gold falling 7c or 4.32% to $1.55; and Taiko Critical Minerals shedding 4c or 11.76% to 30c.
Napier Port was down 3c to $3.75 after reporting a 2.5% decline in container volume to 79,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) and 4.6% fall in bulk cargo to 740,000 tonnes for the third quarter compared with the same period last year.
For the nine months to June, containerised cargo increased 1% to 196,000 TEUs and bulk cargo decreased 2.5% to 2.43m tonnes. Log export volumes were down 5% for the third quarter and 5.2% for the nine months.
New Zealand Rural Land declined 5c or 5.21% to 91c after telling the market that its Hawke’s Bay tenant, Kiwi Crunch Farms, had been placed in receivership.
The Kiwi Crunch leases make up 5.8% of NZ Rural’s total rental income, and given the dynamic nature, it is suspending its full-year 2026 earnings guidance.
NZ Rural Land said it had already received strong interest relating to any opportunities arising from the impacted leases. The company said two further leases, ultimately controlled by Wade Glass (Kiwi Crunch owner) and adding a further 7.3% to rental income, were currently not impacted by the receivership.
Heartland Group, down 2c to $1.21, has been told that Toi Foundation is reopening a full 28-day consultation period with the Taranaki community over the proposed merger with TSB Bank.
Heartland now expects a decision from the Toi trustees in August and continues to target December for completion of the merger.
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