Glossary

Keyword	Definition
30 Day Trend	The adjusted close price from the last 30 days, does not include today’s price prior to market close.
52 Week Change	The change in gross value of the security from the same date 52 weeks ago.
Actively Managed	Where the fund manager has the discretion to select the securities in a fund and looks for opportunities to buy and sell to increase its performance.
AGM	Annual general meeting of shareholders required by law where directors inform shareholders of company performance and future prospects. Shareholders vote on board elections and significant company issues.
Algorithmic Trading (algo)	Computerised, rule-based system responsible for executing orders to buy or sell a security.
Announcements	Market Announcements distributed in real time.
Annual Yield	The annual dividend return from an investment. Calculated as the annual dividend divided by the share price.
Annuity	Series of identical fixed payments to be made for a specified number of years.
Audit	A formal verification of the accuracy of accounting records and published accounts. An audit can be external or internal and is undertaken both to ensure the correctness of classifications and amounts and to discover fraud. The external auditor has a statutory responsibility to report on the truth and fairness of the accounts.
Basis Point	One percent of one percent (0.01%) e.g. 0.5% is 50 basis points.
Bad Debt	Losses which cannot be recovered. They are generally written off.
Balance	The number of shares held in a security or a portfolio.
Benchmark	Yardstick that a fund manager compares the performance of their fund to.
Beta	Measure of how changes in share price correlate to the overall movements in the share market as a whole.
Bid	A bid is the "buying" price that an investor is prepared to pay for shares (opposite to offer/ask).
Block Trade	Off-market trading mechanism enabling market users to arrange and transact orders of significant size in specified contracts.
Blue Chip	Larger companies with a long history of profitability and stability.
Board of Directors	A group of people elected by shareholders to manage the overall direction of a company.
Bonds	All yield-traded securities traded on the debt market.
Break	Sharp decline or a sharp rise in price, usually after a sustained period of little or no movement.
Brokerage	Fee paid to a stockbroking firm for buying or selling of shares.
Buy on open	To buy at the beginning of a trading session at a price within the opening price range.
Call option	Option / warrant contract which gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying asset at the exercise price at or before a fixed expiry date.
Candlestick	A chart that displays the high, low, opening and closing prices of a security for a specific period.
Capitalisation	For equity securities, the market value of instruments issued; the current market price multiplied by the number of instruments issued. For the debt market, it is the outstanding value of all bonds and hybrids.
Cash covered	Derivatives position, such as a written option contract, where the option writer meets their margin obligations with cash.
Cash market	The market for debt and equity securities. Often referred to as the underlying market.
Change	Current market price (or yield) less yesterday’s closing price (or yield) adjusted for corporate actions. Displayed in both absolute values and percentages.
Clearing	The process of matching, registering and guaranteeing transactions.
Close	Closing price of the day determined during market close. Used as the reference price for the following day.
Closed end fund	Fund that has a fixed number of shares or units on issue.
Closing out	To liquidate a position by taking an equal and opposite position.
Code	The code of the quoted instrument.
Commission	Fee that an advisor or a fund manager may receive for the buying or selling of securities.
Company	The name of the company that issues the instrument.
Convertible debt security	Unsecured note or debenture that is classified as an equity security because it is convertible into an equity security.
Convertible note	Loan made to a company at a fixed rate of interest with the right to be either redeemed (i.e. repaid by the company) for cash or converted into ordinary shares at a predetermined date or within a certain period.
Corporate action	Action taken by an entity for the purpose of giving an Entitlement to Holders of a class of the entity's securities.
Cost basis	The amount of money originally invested in a stock, as per the IPO.
Cost of carry	Cost factored into the pricing of derivatives instruments. It reflects the cost of holding the underlying over the life of the contract, less the amount that the contract holder would receive in income from the underlying, such as dividends, during this time.
Coupon	The interest paid per period to the holder of the debt security.
CSN Number	Common Shareholder Number. It is a number which identifies your holding to others.
Current ratio	A measure of liquidity that shows a company's ability to pay its short-term debts.
DCM	Debt Capital Markets.
Debt / Equity Hybrid	Any debt instrument that qualifies as regulatory capital or is treated as equity by a rating agency. This category includes deeply subordinated securities (e.g. Tier 1 and 2 capital instruments), as well as preference shares.
Decliners	Ranking of largest decreases over the course of the current day, based on current market price less the open adjusted price.
Delta	Measure of the sensitivity of an option or warrant price to movement in the price of the underlying asset.
Depository receipt	A depository receipt (DR) is a negotiable financial instrument issued by a bank to represent a foreign company's publicly traded securities. The depository receipt trades on a local stock exchange.
Derivative	Instrument that derives its value from an underlying instrument.
Directors	Persons elected by shareholders who are responsible for the implementation of corporate objectives.
Discount	When a security (especially debt and derivatives) is trading at a price less than its fair value. With futures, sometimes used to refer to the price differences between futures of different delivery months, as in the phrase "July at the discount to May", indicating that the price of the July future is lower than that or May.
Dividends	Payments from issuing companies to shareholders as a share of the company's profits, allocated to shareholders on a per-share basis. The amount payable, in cents per security held.
Dividend Imputation	Tax credits passed on to a shareholder who receives a franked dividend. Imputation credits entitle investors to a rebate for tax already paid by a New Zealand company.
Dividend in arrears	Dividends on cumulative preference shares that have not been declared each period in accordance with the terms of their issue.
Dividend reinvestment plan (DRP)	An alternative to cash dividends, allowing shareholders to receive new shares instead of cash.
DPS Adjusted	Total dividend, in cents per share, for the year, adjusted by the dilution factor to take account of issues and reconstructions.
Earnings	Income or profit of an entity. May be expressed as gross or net.
EBIT	Earnings before interest and tax.
EBITDA	Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
ECM	Equity Capital Markets.
EPS	Earnings per share, the latest rolling 12 month’s earnings divided by the number of shares on issue. Earnings are profit after tax.
Equity warrants	Warrants for which the underlying asset is a security (e.g. shares in a company).
Escrow	Refers to units (shares) allocated to investors that are subject to restrictions such as not being able to be traded for a specified period of time.
ETF	Exchange-traded fund. These are investment funds usually designed to track the performance of a share price index and which allows for applications and redemptions in the primary market on a daily basis either in specie or in cash.
Ex-Dividend	Securities bought on or after this date will not be entitled to the dividend.
Ex-Rights	Securities entitling the seller to retain the right to participate in a new issue.
Exercise	Notification by the buyer of an option or warrant of their decision to buy or sell the underlying asset or in the case of cash settled contracts to receive a cash payment.
Expiry Date	The date on which a voluntary corporate restructuring event ends. Requests to participate that are received after this date are not eligible.
Face Value	The nominal dollar amount assigned to each debt security by the issuer. This is generally the amount repaid upon maturity.
Fair Value	Current value of the underlying shares or index, plus an amount referred to as the 'cost of carry'. An estimate of the price an option should sell at in an efficient market.
Fiduciary	A person who has been entrusted with another's confidence or responsibility with regard to financial matters.
Forward contract	Contract to exchange a particular good or financial instrument at a set price on a future date. They do not trade on an exchange and are traded OTC.
Free Float/Float	The percentage of a company's shares that are considered to be freely available for public purchase. Determining a company's free float requires analysis and classification of the company's shareholders.
Frequency	The number of times per year a coupon payment is paid out to holders of a debt security.
Fundamental analysis	Method of analysis using ratios and percentages calculated from financial data of a company to assess the company's quantitative and qualitative aspects.
Futures contract	A futures contract is a legal agreement, generally made on the trading floor of a futures exchange, to buy or sell a particular commodity or financial instrument at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future.
Gainers	Ranking of largest increases over the course of the current day, based on current market price less the open adjusted price.
Gearing	The extent to which an investor or business is using borrowed money. Also known as leverage.
Gross Dividend Yield	Rolling 12 month yield based on dividends and imputation credits.
Government bond	Debt security issued by the government. Government bond codes include GOV390, GOV400 and GOV410.
Green bond	A bond where the capital raised is used to finance or refinance projects with clear environmental benefits. Examples include ARG010 and ARG020.
Hedge	Transaction which partly or totally offsets the risk of a current holding.
High	The highest price (or yield) traded today.
High Bid	The highest, or “best” bid to buy currently in the order book (i.e., that has not been traded).
Holding Company	A company that holds the securities and/or funds of another party in his/her or its absence or for the purpose of safekeeping of assets, or for investment purposes.
Hybrid security	Securities which combine debt and equity characteristics.
Imputation	The amount, in cents per share, of imputation credits accruing to each security.
Index Capitalisation	The sum of the capitalisation of all the instruments in the index, with each multiplied by a factor according to the rules constructing each index. For more information on indices, please refer to the Index Methodology.
Index-Tracking Fund	A fund that invests in the same securities as those that make up an index in the same proportions, a type of ETF. For example, the allocation of SmartMIDZ mirrors that of the NZX MidCap Index.
Indices	Indices consist of a hypothetical portfolio of securities representing a particular market or a segment of it. An index measures the performance of the market it represents. An index cannot be bought/sold, but funds can track the performance of an index (index-tracking fund, ETF).
Initial margin	Minimum deposit determined by the clearing house on all futures contracts and options.
Initial Public Offering (IPO)	The process by which a private company becomes a publicly held company by selling shares of its stock to the public for the first time.
Insider trading	Trading shares of a stock based on information that has not yet become available to the public. It is illegal and punishable by the Financial Markets Authority. Insider trading diminishes the integrity of capital markets.
Insolvency	The inability of a person or company to settle debts writyahen they become payable.
Instrument/security	An instrument (also known as a security) are tradeable instruments used to raise capital. Equity securities represent ownership interest in a company (shares) and debt securities represent borrowed money which may be repaid with interest (bonds).
Instrument Count	The number of instruments listed on the market.
ISIN	International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) of the Instrument, a specific code used to identify a particular security.
Issued By	Name of the Company that issues the instrument, also known as the issuer.
Interim dividend	When a dividend is paid more than once a year, dividends other than the final one are called interim dividends. Typically, dividends are paid twice a year, one interim and one final dividend.
Intrinsic value	Difference between the current market price of the underlying asset and the exercise price of the option or warrant, but no less than zero.
Kauri Bond	A Kauri bond is a bond denominated in New Zealand dollars that is issued by a foreign (i.e. non New Zealand) issuer.
Leverage	The extent to which an investor or business is using borrowed money.
Last payment date	The date on which the preceding coupon payment was paid to the holder of a debt security.
LIC	Listed Investment Companies.
Limit order	Instruction to a broker to buy or sell a security at a specified price or better.
Limited liability company	Company whose members have liability by shares or guarantee. In the case of the former, liability is limited to the amounts unpaid on the shares, in the case of the latter by the amount undertaken to be contributed in the event of a winding up of the company.
Liquid assets	Assets that can be bought or sold easily with little impact on price.
Liquid market	Where buying and selling can be accomplished with ease and with little impact on price because of sufficient volume on offer.
Liquidity	Measure of the ability to buy or sell assets easily and with little impact on price. Characterised by bid and offer prices close together and many shares available (depth) at these prices.
Long	Trader who has bought or holds a position that will benefit from rising prices.
Lot	Unit of trading equivalent to one futures contract.
Low	The lowest price (or yield) traded today.
Low Offer	The lowest, or “best” offer to sell currently in the order book (i.e., that has not been traded).
Managed investments	Professionally managed portfolio of assets.
Mandatory Settlement	Process whereby cash options or futures contracts still open at expiry are closed out by mandatory cash settlement.
Margin	Amount calculated by the clearing house as necessary to cover the risk of financial loss on options and futures.
Margin Call	A demand by a broker that an investor deposit further cash or securities to cover possible losses. This occurs when the value of the position decreases beyond a certain amount.
Margin lending	Borrowing money to invest in shares and using your existing shares as security.
Margin interval	Probable maximum one day move in the underlying asset as calculated by the clearing house. Expressed as a percentage, used in the calculation of margins for options and futures.
Market capitalisation	Total number of shares on issue multiplied by their market price. This can be applied to work out the market value of a company.
Market order	Order to a broker to do a buy or sell at the current market price at the time the order is given.
Market participants	Organisations that meet NZX's requirements are recognised as market participants. Includes trading participants and clearing participants.
Market price	Prevailing price of shares traded on NZX. May be the last price at which the shares traded, or the most recent price offered or bid for the shares.
Market Risk	Risk of a general decline in the market.
Maturity Date	The date on which the principal amount and any outstanding coupon payment is to be repaid to holders, and the instrument ceases to be listed.
Memorandum of association	Part of a company's constitution, the formal document subscribed by those wishing to form a company and giving details of the company.
Memorandum of understanding	An agreement between two or more parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action.
Merger	When two or more companies combine either by takeover or creation of a new entity.
Minimum Holding	The minimum number of shares that can be held.
Move	Current market price (or yield) less yesterday's closing price (or yield) adjusted for corporate actions.
Mutual fund	A managed investment fund.
NAV (Net Asset Value)	Book value of a company's assets divided by the number of shares on issue.
Net income	Net income (NI) is a company's total earnings (or profit); net income is calculated by taking revenues and subtracting the costs of doing business such as depreciation, interest, taxes and other expenses.
Net position	Difference between the open derivatives contracts held long and the open derivatives contracts held short in any one contract.
Next Record Date	The next date on which the holder of each security is determined for the purposes of paying coupon interest.
Non-renounceable rights	Rights offer that may only be taken up or forfeited, and cannot be traded on the market.
Note	A loan made to a company at a fixed rate of interest with the right to be either redeemed (i.e. repaid by the company) for cash or converted into ordinary shares at a predetermined date or within a certain period.
Novation	Process undertaken by the clearing house whereby it substitutes itself between the buyer and the seller of a trade, acting as the 'middleman' to guarantee the obligations of each party.
NTA	Net Tangible Assets divided by the number of shares on issue at last reported balance date.
OCR (Official Cash Rate)	Rate at which the central bank charges on overnight loans to commercial banks. Main method by which the Reserve Bank of New Zealand influences interest rates.
Off market transfer	The transfer of shares between parties without going through the market place.
Offer	Price at which someone is prepared to sell securities.
Open	Retains the value of the last traded price (or yield). This is adjusted for corporate actions.
Open-ended fund	Managed investment where there is no restriction on the number of units in the fund that will be issued. ETFs are open ended funds.
Option	Contract between two parties giving the taker (buyer) the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a pre-existing underlying asset at a particular price on or before a particular date.
Ordinary Share	The most commonly traded security in New Zealand. Holders of ordinary shares are part-owners of a company and may receive payments in cash, called dividends, if the company trades profitably. They have no preferential rights as to either dividends out of profits or capital on a winding up.
OTC (Over the counter)	Refers to any transaction in securities that does not occur on an organised securities exchange but rather via an electronic or telephone network.
Outstanding	The nominal value on issue; the number of instruments outstanding multiplied by the face value.
Oversubscription	During a voluntary offer such as an election merger, shares are allocated to shareholders that choose to participate (or subscribe). If there are more subscriptions than shares allocated, the offer has been over-subscribed. Can also occur in IPOs.
Par Value	The face value of a stock which has no relation to its market value.
P/E Ratio (price-earnings ratio)	A valuation ratio of a company’s current share price compared to its earnings-per-share. Also sometimes known as "price multiple" or "earnings multiple" - the number of times the price covers the earnings per security over a 12-month period. Commonly used to measure the attractiveness of particular shares and to compare shares in one company with those in another.
Parent company or entity	Controlling company or entity.
Participating dividend	Dividend paid to preference shareholders in addition to the normal preference dividends payable.
Participating preference shares	Share with a claim to profits ahead of ordinary shares. These shares may also have access to any additional dividends to be paid after ordinary shareholders have received theirs.
Payable	The date on which the dividend is paid to those who held the security on the Record Date.
Period	Whether the dividend is an interim, special or final dividend for the year.
Physical market	The market for physical goods, also known as commodities. This includes energy products, agricultural products and metals.
Preference Shares	Shares that rank before ordinary shares in the event of liquidation.
Premium (option)	Amount payable by the buyer of the option to the writer of the option on buying the option.
Premium (margin)	Current market value of an exchange traded option based on the previous day's closing market price and represents the current cost of liquidating the position.
Previous Payment Date	The date on which the preceding interest payment was paid.
Price	20 minutes delayed market price. In historical series the price is adjusted to normalise movements due to Corporate Actions such as share splits or consolidations.
Price per $100	(Debt Securities) The price traded for a parcel of securities with a nominal value of $100.
Private equity fund	Investment fund not available to the general public that often makes concentrated investments directly into companies.
Promissory note	An unconditional written promise to pay a specified sum of money on demand or at a specified date.
Pro rata issue	Issue offered to all holders of securities in a class on a pro rata basis.
Property trust	Trusts that enable investors to purchase an interest in a diversified portfolio of real estate assets. Investors in property trusts gain exposure to the value of the real estate the trust owns, and receive rental income through distributions the trust pays to investors.
Proxy	Written authorisation given by one person to another so that the second person can act in place of the first person, e.g. attending and voting at shareholders' meetings. The person authorised to act is also known as the proxy.
Put Option	Option / warrant contract giving the holder the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying asset at the exercise price.
Quotation	Securities in a listed entity are quoted on NZX for trading. Defined in the Listing Rules as Official Quotation.
Receiver	Person appointed either by a court or by an individual under a power contained in a statute, or an instrument, to investigate the affairs of a company which has run into financial difficulties.
Reconstruction	An alteration to the issued capital of a company. Includes share splits, consolidations, capital reductions (partial repayments) schemes of arrangement and name changes.
Record date	The date used in determining who is entitled to a dividend or other entitlement associated with a security. Those on the register on the record date are eligible for the entitlement. To allow for settlement of trades, ex-dividend dates and other ex-entitlement dates are usually set to one business day prior to the record date.
Reference Price	The price of a security which is used as a reference for certain trading rules (such as price limits), typically the closing price of the previous trading day.
Related company	Company which controls or is controlled by another company via ownership of subsidiaries.
Renounceable rights	Issue of rights where the offeree can choose to take up the rights offered, let them lapse, or trade them on the market. See also rights issue.
Reset date	In relation to Rolling Instalments, the Reset Date is the date upon which the Final Payment for the Loan Amount is reset for the next period.
Return on investment	Earnings from investments over a given period - usually expressed as a percentage per year of the amount invested.
Reverse Merger	A merger in which an index constituent is acquired or merged with a private, non-publicly traded company or OTC-traded company resulting in a publicly traded entity which is potentially eligble for index inclusion.
Rights issue	Privilege granted to shareholders to buy new shares in the same company.
Risk	Chance or probability that an investment will result in a loss to an investor. Can also be referred to as the level of volatility returns attached to a particular investment.
Risk margin	Margin for futures and exchange traded options required to cover the likely one or two day probable worst case movement against the position.
Secondary market	Trading on market after the primary issue.
Securities	Includes all instruments in the relevant equity securities market, such as ordinary shares, units in property trusts and warrants.
Security Type	The class of instrument, determined by its most salient features.
Settlement day	The day in which cash settlement or delivery resulting from expired futures or options contracts is conducted.
Share indices	Measure of movement in the price of a nominated group of shares.
Share registry	Organisation which, on behalf of a company, records changes in share ownership, issues share holding statements and makes adjustments for dividend payments, bonus and rights issues.
Shares Issued	Total quantity of equity securities currently on issue.
Short	Trader who has sold or who holds a position that will benefit from falling prices.
Short selling	Where an investor or fund manager borrows a security and subsequently sells the security with an obligation to purchase back the security and return it at a later date.
SSM	Special Shareholder Meeting - Companies may need to call special meetings from time to time to vote on specific issues. For example, they could call a special meeting to decide on proposed changes to a company's constitution or to alter shareholders' rights. Shareholders and directors can attend these meetings.
Stock split	Share split or stock split involves the increase of the total number of shares outstanding, accompanied by a proportionate decrease in the price of each share. The aggregate value of the shares on issue remains the same.
STIR	Short term interest rate.
Stop loss	Predetermined sell (buy) order at a price below (above) the current price intended to minimise losses in event of further falls (rises).
Structured Debt Bonds	Are subordinated, include rate reset mechanisms, have a fixed or floating rate, with either a maturity date or perpetual tenors. This category includes senior bonds that could be repaid in equity.
Subscription	A choice of receiving either cash or stock in a corporate restructing event when a choice is offered.
Subsidiary	Company controlled by another company. The subsidiary company is an entity in its own right and pays its own tax.
Substantial Shareholder	Person/company holding more than 5% of a company's voting rights.
Supplementary Amount (Supp)	The amount payable, in cents per security held, for any supplementary dividend payable on the same date as the normal dividend.
Synthetic Price	A synthetic price for an index constituent is used when the constituent has ceased to trade, or has yet to commence to trade, but where its value can be determined through its relationship to some other index constituent.
Takeover	Acquisition of a controlling interest in a company through the purchase of shares.
Technical analysis	Method used to identify investment opportunities through the study of price action. A chart representing past price movements is the principle tool used to identify trends on which analysts can base their future predictions.
Tick	Smallest allowed movement in price.
Trade Volume	The number of individual units of an instrument traded today.
Trades (trade count)	The number of trades today for the security.
Trading halt	Defined in the Listing Rules as an interruption to trading at the request of an entity that is not a suspension from quotation.
Trading Status	Real time information on whether a security is halted or suspended.
Trust Deed	Lays down the rules for a Trust, its investment guidelines and how benefits will accrue to beneficiaries and account holders.
Trustee	An individual who holds or manages assets for the benefit of another.
Uncalled capital	Total amount of capital that as yet has not been called up on the shares which are currently issued.
Underlying instrument/security	Asset that the holder of a derivative has the right to buy or sell, or against which a cash payment is made on exercise of an option or warrant. The underlying instrument may be a security (such as shares in a company), a share price index, a commodity or a currency.
Underwriting/underwriter	Party that agrees, for a fee, to purchase any unsold shares in an issue of shares.
Unsecured notes	Loan made to a company for a fixed period of time at a fixed rate of interest. They are issued mainly, but not only, by finance companies for between three months and three years. They offer a higher rate of interest than a debenture of the same maturity, but do not have the same security as a debenture.
Upcoming Listings	Listings are listed here, and are entered manually based on the best understanding of NZX.
Upcoming Meetings	Meeting dates and location are updated manually as per issuer releases.
Upcoming Results	Issuer reporting release dates are included here as released by the issuer. It is not a listing rule requirement for the issuer to provide this information.
Value	The number of the security traded today multiplied by the price of each trade.
Vanilla Corporate Debt	Bonds that are senior, secured or unsecured, unsubordinated, with either fixed or floating rates through to a maturity date.
Variation margin	Call made by the clearing house for additional funds or eligible security to be lodged to cover an unfavourable movement in the price of futures, options or exchange traded CFDs.
Volatility	Measure of the amount of fluctuation in price.
Volume	The number of the security traded today.
VWAP	Volume weighted average price.
Warrants	A security that gives the holder the right to buy a security at a fixed price (called an exercise price) until the expiry date. Warrants are similar to options, except warrants are issued by the company itself.
Writer	Seller of an option contract.
Yield	20 minutes delayed expected return based on expected coupons to maturity.
Yield to maturity (YTM)	A total return measure for bonds which takes account of both capital gain (or loss) and income earned. YTM is calculated using purchase price (not face value) and assumes the instrument is then held to maturity.