MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares fall ahead of Fed, Reserve Bank announcements

By Sophie Boot

Sept. 21 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand shares dropped ahead of two cash rate announcements, with Orion Health Group, Air New Zealand and Scales Corp falling.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 27.28 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,281.17. Within the index, 27 stocks fell, 15 rose and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $194.6 million.

The local market plunged last week amid fears that the US Federal Reserve would raise rates, but that selling has calmed. New Zealand's Reserve Bank's official cash rate review will be announced this morning.

"We are seeing quite big ranges on a number of stocks and not necessarily with large volumes either," said David Price, broker at Forsyth Barr. "Movements are driven by flow, but not necessarily much volume behind it. What we've seen is a rotation out of interest-rate-sensitive stocks and into more cyclical stocks in the last three weeks, Mr Draghi came out and said well, no more medicine for the patient, and that's making people refocus."

In early September, the European Central Bank's president Mario Draghi said there were limits to monetary policy and dashed market hopes that it would expand its stimulus program.

Orion Health Group led the index lower, down 5.3 percent to $3.60, and has gained 18.8 percent this year.

Air New Zealand dropped 3.3 percent to $1.89, Scales Corp fell 2.8 percent to $3.11, and A2 Milk Co dropped 2.6 percent to $1.86.

The biggest gainers were the dual-listed banks, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group up 2.4 percent to $28.22 and Westpac Banking Corp advancing 1.5 percent to $30.90. The S&P/ASX 200 Index had risen 0.7 percent at 5:30pm local time.

Auckland International Airport rose 2.3 percent to $7.21. The price veered between $7.09 and $7.30 today, with 1.2 million shares traded and Price said this was indicative of large price movements being driven by overseas investors, albeit without a lot of volume.

Kathmandu Holdings gained 2 percent to $2.02, and has advanced 27 percent this year. The Christchurch-based retailer lifted annual profit 64 percent to $33.5 million and will pay a bigger dividend after more rigorous inventory management helped fatten margins. Gross margin widened to 62.6 percent from 61.5 percent, and sales rose 4 percent to $425.6 million.

Outside the main index, Synlait Milk was unchanged at $3.507. The dairy company has completed the institutional component of its rights offer, raising about $59 million. As part of its earnings announcement on Monday, the company said it planned to raise a $98 million in a rights offer to expand its infant formula manufacturing, consumer packaging, infrastructure requirements and value-added cream manufacturing.

(BusinessDesk)