21 Feb 2014

NZ dollar drops after data from China

4:27 pm on 21 February 2014

The New Zealand dollar has had a weak day on Thursday.

ASB head of institutional foreign exchange sales Tim Kelleher says it's all to do with events offshore.

He says the US Federal Reserve gave a bullish forecast and weak Chinese manufacturing figures in the form of the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) were released.

Mr Kelleher says the main weakness was in the Australian dollar, but the New Zealand dollar has followed.

The New Zealand dollar was down about 0.5 cents against the US dollar at about 5pm on Thursday, compared with where it was that time on Wednesday.

About 5pm on Thursday, it was trading at 82.54 US cents, 92.25 Australian cents, 49.49 British pence, 0.6 euro and 84.11 yen.

Sharemarket stages come back

The share market staged a remarkable turn-around, the benchmark Top 50 Index closing 4 points lower at 4910.

Earlier in the day, it was as much as 36 points down.

Craigs Investment Partners investment advisor James Porteous says the market has been focusing on the swag of company profit announcements.

He says Auckland International Airport was steady and it's increased its guidance for next year, although the retail component had slowed slightly.

Mr Porteous says it was likely to be because the era of duty free cigarettes is tightening and diminishing with sales about 3 percent weaker than expected.

He says Steel & Tube also had a good result and was broadly on forecast and Sky City also performed as expected.

Mr Porteous says Fletcher Building did well and although the expected bountiful profits from Auckland and Christchurch have not yet materialised, there seems to be greater hope for that in the coming year.

He says Fletcher Building has suffered as a result of the New Zealand dollar appreciating against the Australian dollar.

Auckland International Airport shares rose 5 cents to $3.69, Steel & Tube shares gained 10 cents to $3.20, Sky City gained 5 cents to $3.79 but Fletcher Building fell 18 cents to $9.54.

Auckland International Airport produced a higher-than-expected $86 million first-half profit and has lifted its guidance for the full year.

Fletcher Building's first-half profit rose 5 percent to $154 million.

Also reporting on Thursday was New Zealand's largest seaport, Port of Tauranga, whose underlying net profit was flat although operating earnings were up 5.5 percent.

Port of Tauranga shares fell 6 cents to $13.79.