Here are the key things you need to know about in the NZX markets over the past 24 hours. Changes are as at 3:00 pm and may change when the market closes at 4:45 pm.
WHAT THE NZX50 IS DOING
The NZX50 down a sharpish -0.7% today. The index now up +6.3% over the last six-months, gaining +11.1% year-on-year.
THE MAIN GAINERS
There are 40 gainers in the NZX equity markets today. They are led by Pacific Edge (PEB) up +8.6%, Gentrack (GTK, #26) up +2.2%, and The Warehouse Group (WHS, #44) up +2.4%.
Chorus
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THE MAIN DECLINERS
There are a total of 46 decliners today. They are led by software company Blackpearl Group (BPG) down -11.1%, Serko (SKO, #45) down -6.0%, SkyCity Entertainment (SKC, #29) down -3.3%, and Kiwi Property (KPG, #23), down -2.5%.
Oceania Healthcare
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SMARTSHARES EFTs
| 1-day | 5-day | 6-month | YTD | 1Y | |
| NZ Top 50 ETF (FNZ) | -0.4% | -1.1% | +2.2% | +2.4% | +3.4% |
| NZ Top 10 ETF (TNZ) | -0.1% | -0.6% | +8.1% | +6.4% | +10.4% |
| S/P NZX50 ETF (NZG) | -0.4% | -0.7% | +5.7% | +6.2% | +8.4% |
| NZ Dividend ETF (DIV) | -0.7% | -2.0% | -0.3% | -2.8% | -2.8% |
KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS
There are no major announcements today other than by penny-stock Blis Technologies (BLT) going into a trading halt. "The company has become aware of a patent filing that potentially has a significant impact on the company. The company needs time to assess those impacts including obtaining legal advice."
NZX50 Telecommunication Sector
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Click on the chart title to find more about this sector, including its components.
2 Comments
I'm no expert but you would have noticed over the year that One.NZ , Spark's main competitor, seems to be everywhere with its huge advertising campaigns.
A friend of mine who still works from home as an accountant in his 70s, had a problem with a faulty "widget" that only needed a quick replacement part.....a job that would only take a few minutes at the most. Meanwhile his phone was down. I think it took 4 days to do the quick fix.....he was fuming! So here we have a customer service/response problem.
Spark themselves blames their overall pedestrian performance on their IT innovation sector the poor performance of which they claim is due to the struggling economy.
Also, they say they will be cutting costs over the next year by around $50 million they claim; I've always felt that Spark was over-staffed.
But I too have noticed that the spark seems to have gone out of Spark.....I have a modest holding of Spark shares.
Going back a few years, I remember "Morningstar" saying that Spark was a good defensive stock because it had a very good balance sheet. I don't know if that situation still obtains.
They may have been caught napping with Infratil buying Vodafone and then seeming to turn it around with aggressive and imaginative marketing.
Spark will have to be careful that they don't do a "Fletchers" and impulsively start wasting money by buying any old business out there to gain momentum.
I think better results can only come from within the company itself, and that means getting the right staff.
Finally, they could do better with their TV advertisng which is insipid and instantly foregetable compared with One.NZ's. They still have to keep a their brand in front of the public with eye-catching ads. And if they can't come up with something innovative and profitable, then they need to become one lean and mean machine via cost-cutting while still remaining efficient and providing excellent customer service.
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