Manuka’s New Zealand subsidiary, Trans-Tasman Resources, is advancing its offshore, vanadium-rich iron sands project in the South Taranaki Bight through the Fast Track Approvals process – the project is now under expert panel review.
Retail spending mixed
Robertshawe said from what he’s read, retail spending has been pretty mixed over the Christmas period.
“I thought that perhaps people were more confident and this would flow through to better spending. But it looks like spending is down slightly, and that’s disappointing.”
He said the retailers would likely release trading updates in January.
Among the retail stocks, KMD Brands was up 1c or 3.7% to 28c, and Michael Hill was down 1.5c or 3.7% to 39c.
Eyes on Wall Street
In the United States, all eyes are on whether the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P500 indices will push through the magical 50,000 and 7000 points levels, respectively.
The release of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes and the latest unemployment data this week should dictate the market movements. From the minutes, investors are hoping for clarity on how the policymakers weighed inflation, economic growth and the path of interest rates.
The US markets were flat in their last trading session. The Dow Jones slipped 0.041% to 48,710.97 points; the S&P500 was down 0.03% to 6929.94; and the Nasdaq Composite eased 0.086% to 23,593.1.
Aussie down
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX200 Index was down 0.33% to 8733.4 points at 6pm NZ time.
Back home, market leaders Fisher & Paykel Healthcare decreased 39c to $37.47; Ebos Group declined 41c to $27.63; and Mainfreight was down 46c to $68.55. Gentrack increased 25c or 2.98% to $8.63; Freightways was up 17c to $14.21; a2 Milk added 13c to $10.62; and Sky TV gained 9c or 2.69% to $3.43.
The dual-listed banks Westpac and ANZ added 54c to $45.04 and ANZ 38c to $42.14, respectively.
Another small-cap stock, CDL Investments, gained 3c or 3.95% to sit at 79c; Eroad rose 5.5c or 4.64% to $1.24; and Vital Healthcare Property Trust collected 5c or 2.53% to $2.03. A2 Milk has been one of the biggest performers over the past year, its share price rising 67.7%.
Sanford just tops that with a 70.85% increase, Ventia Services is up 76.98%; Synlait Milk 53.01%, Tower 47.2% Seeka 43%; T&G Global 49%; and PGG Wrightson gained 42.86%.
Among other leading stocks, Freightways is up 34.79%; Fletcher Building 26.3%, Napier Port 39.92% and Port of Tauranga 22.75%.
The highest performers on the NZX have been Third Age Health Services, rising 138.46%, Bremworth 107.8%, Santana Minerals 98% and Radius Residential Care increasing 90.24%.
Three retailers slump for 2025
Three retailers feature among the worst performers. Michael Hill is down 40% over the past 12 months; KMD Brands declined 36.35%; and The Warehouse decreased 30.66%. Other decliners were Gentrack, down 31.11%, SkyCity decreasing 32.55%; Ryman Healthcare 29.7%; Ebos 27.19%; Spark 22.53%; and Comvita falling 35%.
In local trading, Chatham Rock Phosphate was up 0.002c or 3.33% to 6.2c after telling the market it raised $196,106 through a private placement at 6.2c a share.
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