Before that, the New Zealand Government is opening its books with the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update.

ASB said the final countdown into the end of the year is an action-packed one domestically, as well as bringing a Christmas present (an expected 0.25% cut in interest rates) from the most influential central bank of them all – the United States Federal Reserve.

ASB expects the New Zealand Government’s operating deficits over the next three years will be $1 billion to $1.5b larger than assumed in the May Budget and a surplus will be delayed until the 2029 financial year.

“Of course, the underlying revenue assumptions will matter, as will the extent to which the Government can identify further cost savings out of the 59% ($51b) increase in core Crown spending in five years since the 2019 fiscal year, back in the pre-Covid era,” the ASB said.

“There is bound to be some low-quality spending amongst that to put to more effective use, but $138b total spending in 2024 makes for a huge haystack to search through.”

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare climbed $1.45 or 3.94% to $38.25 on trade worth $11.95m and has risen 59.44% over the past 12 months.

McConnochie said the market has had a strong year to date (increasing 8.7%) and Fisher and Paykel’s rise has made up half of that return.

Freightways collected 12c to $10.55; Sky TV increased 6c or 2.38% to $2.58; Winton Land was up 6c or 3.14% to $1.97; Green Cross Health improved 5c or 6.25% to 75c; and NZME added 3c or 2.86% to $1.08.

Small-cap 2 Cheap Cars was up 3c or 4% to 78c; Move Logistics gained 1.5c or 7.32% to 22c; and Rua Bioscience increased 0.008c or 29.63% to 3.5c.

In the property sector, Vital Healthcare Trust was up 4.5c or 2.51% to $1.84; Property for Industry gained 3.5c to $2.18; and Goodman Trust added 4c or 1.99% to $2.05.

Meridian Energy, down 7c to $5.64, reported that national hydro storage decreased from 139% to 134% in the month to December 10. Retail sales were up 1.8% compared with November last year, with agricultural and large business increasing 11.4% and 7.8% respectively.

Contact, up 1c to $9.01, said hydro storage in the South Island was 141% of mean and North Island 119% for the month ending December 11. Mass market electricity and gas sales were 290GWh compared with 298GWh in November last year.

Summerset Group fell 34c or 2.62% to $12.66; Oceania Healthcare was down 2c or 2.67% to 73c; Synlait Milk shed 2.5c or 4.81% to 49.5c; SkyCity declined 4c or 2.78% to $1.40; and T&G Global decreased 5c or 3.33% to $1.45.

Auckland International Airport declined 16c or 1.95% to $8.04 after reporting a 3% increase in total passengers to 1.63 million for November – representing 90% of pre-Covid activity. International passengers totalled 861,532 and domestic 771,247, both up 3% compared with the same month last year.

Port of Tauranga, down 1c to $6.54, has received Environment Court approval for resource consent to extend its Sulphur Point container wharf by 285 metres and accommodate an additional berth.

Of other port companies, Marsden Maritime Holdings was down 8c or 2.3% to $3.40 and South Port NZ declined 20c or 3.58% to $5.39.

Infrastructure services provider Ventia plunged 94c or 20% to $3.76. Ventia last week told the market that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has started civil proceedings alleging contraventions of competition law provisions.

ACCC said in a statement that Ventia Australia and Spotless Facility Services, a subsidiary of Downer EDI, and four senior executives were allegedly involved in price fixing relating to estate maintenance and operation services for the Defence Department.

Both companies have separate billion-dollar contracts for more than 200 defence force bases and other properties across Australia.