NZ sharemarket suffers from ex-dividend blues

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was on a gradual slide and closed at 11,313.53, down 43.58 points or 0.38%. The index has fallen on 10 of the last 12 trading days. 

There were 61 gainers and 64 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 29.34 million share transactions worth $103.52m. 

David McConnochie, investment adviser with Forsyth Barr, said it was another heavy day for income-generating stocks going ex-dividend.

 “Generally, the dividend (payout) is shed from the headline share price, and the income part of the market is delivering to shareholders. But maybe there has been a bit of offshore selling over the last few weeks because of the strong US dollar,” he said.