Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said policy uncertainty, through the election debates, was weighing on confidence in some parts of the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cFisher & Paykel has a low exposure to the New Zealand economy and has become a superstar stock. It has amazing world-class medical products and they have been working on them over a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the company reported next month and was expected to at least meet the market\u2019s earnings forecast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe policy uncertainty is certainly weighing on cyclical stocks like retirement,\u201d Solly said.<\/p>\n
In the US<\/a>, the technology-driven Nasdaq Composite declined 1.25% to 27,193.34 points after it was revealed that unlisted OpenAI had not met its previous annual revenue guidance of $70 billion, but it said it would reach that target by the end of the year.<\/p>\n The oil price softened after President Donald Trump said the US would not attack Iran before the midterm elections early next month, and Brent Crude was trading at US$102.9 a barrel.<\/p>\n In Australia, AI developer Firmus cancelled its initial public offer<\/a> \u2013 promoted as the biggest float on the market since Telstra in 1997 \u2013 because of poor interest from investors amid concerns about the company\u2019s debt and lack of detail.<\/p>\n Local stocks<\/p>\n At home, Infratil was down 18c to $13.20; Spark shed 3c to $1.98; Stride Property declined 3c or 2.78% to $1.05; Hallenstein Glasson decreased 27c or 1.83% to $14.50; and Briscoe fell 14c or 3.12% to $4.35.<\/p>\n Meridian Energy was up 9c to $5.53; Freightways increased 24c or 1.99% to $12.29; a2 Milk \u2013 another stock with low exposure to the New Zealand economy \u2013 gained 18c or 2.22% to $8.30; Port of Tauranga added 12c to $8.23; and Tower collected 4c or 1.94% to $2.09.<\/p>\n In the retirement sector, Summerset was down 15c or 2.2% to $6.68; Oceania Healthcare decreased 2c or 2.99% to 65c; and Ryman Healthcare was up 3c or 1.79% to $1.71.<\/p>\n KMD Brands was up 6.5c or 3.49% to $1.93 after it was reported that New York-based Authentic Brands Group, which owns Reebok, Sports Illustrated, Quicksilver and Billabong among others, was one of four groups looking at making a takeover offer.<\/p>\n Other gainers were Argosy Property up 2c or 2.04% to $1; Delegat Group increasing 15c or 3.73% to $4.17; Green Cross Health adding 3.5c or 1.81% to $1.965; and Heartland Group up 2.5c or 2.08% to $1.22.<\/p>\n Mainfreight gained 64c to $66.14; AFT Pharmaceuticals collected 9c or 1.98% to $4.64; Gentrack was up 9c<\/a> or 2.23% to $4.12; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ increased 10c or 3.32% to $3.11; and Synlait Milk rose 3c or 6.82% to 47c.<\/p>\n NZ Rural Land, unchanged at 93c, is selling its five Hawke\u2019s Bay orchards to a partnership managed by Craigmore Sustainables for $18.84m, subject to Overseas Investment Office consent.<\/p>\n The orchards were operated by Kiwi Crunch Farms which went into administration, and Christchurch-based Craigmore works with global capital partners to build and manage farms, orchards and forestry businesses in New Zealand.<\/p>\n