Mark Lister, investment director with Craigs Investment Partners, said the local market was in positive territory but subdued, as was unsurprising following a strong day on Monday.
“We’ve got four trading days to go for the year, and the index is up about 3.2%,” Lister said. “That’s a pretty modest gain – not as high as last year but better than the three years before that.
“The long-term average (for the index) is an increase of 8-9%, so we’ve had a disappointing soft year. At least we are finishing the year in solid shape, and hopefully we can lift our game in 2026.”
Lister said the real takeaway this year has been the under-performance of New Zealand assets across the board – shares and property.
He said there had been minimal market reaction to the free-trade agreement with India.
“Any trade deal with the world’s most populous country is good, but it sounds like dairy commodities are the exports that won’t see the same benefits as others.
“I can’t see, for instance, any immediate benefits for a2 Milk, and they will continue to focus on other places.”
All the action was again on Wall Street, with technology stocks connected to artificial intelligence bouncing back. Micron Technology rose 4.01% to US$276.59 (NZ$475.71); Oracle increased 3.17% to US$198.38; and Nvidia was up 1.49% to US$183.69.
Rocket Lab surged to a new high of US$77.55, up 9.97%, after announcing its largest contract – building 18 missile-warning/ tracking satellites for the US Space Development Agency, worth US$816m.
Over two days of trading, Rocket Lab has risen 27.66%, and in the latest after-hours trading, the stock had slipped 5.65% to US$73.17. The space company, based in New Zealand and the US, has risen 214% over the past year.
The benchmark S&P 500, which represents 80% of US market capitalisation, had its third consecutive positive day, rising 0.64% to 6,878.49 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.47% to 48,362.68; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.52% to 23,428.83.
Across the Tasman, Santa Claus came to the S&P/ASX 200 with the index rising 1.17% to 8,801.6 points at 6pm NZ time.
Local stocks
Back home, Chorus increased 19c or 2.05% to $9.48; Freightways added 16c to $14.05; Meridian Energy was up 9c to $5.65; and Turners Automotive picked up 15c or 1.84% to $8.30, and it has risen nearly 57% over the past year.
The banking groups had a good day, with Westpac rising $1.04, or 2.34%, to $45.45, and ANZ gaining 71c to $42.40.Fletcher Building fell 11c or 2.96% to $3.60; Mainfreight decreased 55c to $68; and SkyCity was down 1.5c to 88.5c.
Ebos Group bounced around between $27.70 and $28.58 before closing at $27.99, down 7c.
Hallenstein Glasson decreased 13c to $9.77; T&G Global declined 12c or 5.11% to $2.23; and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund was down 18c or 2.18% to $8.07 as farmgate milk payment forecasts are revised downwards.
Other gainers were Michael Hill up 2.5c or 6.58% to 40.5c; Vista Group gaining 5c or 1.98% to $2.58; Colonial Motor increasing 18c or 2.15% to $8.55; Sanford adding 15c or 2.13% to $7.20; and Minerals Exploration rising 3.5c or 17.95% to 23c.
Genesis Energy, down 1c to $2.40, has a conditional 15-year power purchase agreement with owner Yinson Renewables for the 94.6MW Mt Cass Wind Farm near Waipara in Canterbury, which is scheduled to be completed in 2028 after construction begins early next year.
Genesis will buy 70% of the electricity generated by the wind farm, which has a capacity of more than 300GWh a year, enough to power 40,000 households.
Chatham Rock Phosphate, shedding 0.001c to 6c, is selling its Australian subsidiary Avenir Makatea to Melbourne-based Austure Industries for A$1.4m (NZ$1.6m) – made up of A$900,000 cash over 24 months and a 20% shareholding in Austure Phosphate.
Chatham will send its rock phosphate from the Queensland Korella North Mine to Austure’s manufacturing plant for production into dicalcium and monocalcium phosphate.
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