Blog

Sharesight20 - Top 20 trades on the NZX in 2018

by David Olsen, Senior Marketing Manager — Content/SEO, Sharesight | Mar 14th 2019

Our Sharesight20 snapshots of the top 20 trades on the ASX and NZX markets by Sharesight users always make for interesting reading. In this post we’ll explore the top 20 trades on the NZX in 2018 and build a Sharesight portfolio of these 20 shares to find out how it would have performed during the year.

Sharesight20 top 20 NZX trades 2018

Top 20 NZX trades 2018

Sharesight users overwhelmingly look to gain exposure to the NZX market through ETFs. In 2018 the Smartshares NZ Top 50 Fund, US 500 Fund, and NZ Mid Cap fund claimed the top 3 positions on the Sharesight20NZX for the year.

The most traded stock that was not an ETF that made the 2018 Sharesight20NZX snapshot was market darling The a2 Milk Company Limited, followed by Auckland International Airport Limited, and Heartland Bank Limited. Let’s explore how the investment returns a portfolio built from these stocks would have performed in 2018 before we dive in to some of the news behind the interest in these stocks.

Sharesight20NZX 2018 portfolio performance

Dividends really saved the performance of our Sharesight20NZX 2018 portfolio, with capital gains in the negative for the year. Here’s how the portfolio would have performed.

Sharesight20NZX 2018 - Performance Report 2018-01-01 through 2018-12-31
Code Name Capital Gain % Dividends % Total Return %
AIA Auckland International Airport Limited 10.80% 4.66% 15.46%
AIR Air New Zealand Limited (NS) -2.82% 9.58% 6.76%
ATM The a2 Milk Company Limited 38.17% 0.00% 38.17%
FBU Fletcher Building Limited -35.79% 0.00% -35.79%
FNZ NZ Top 50 Fund (NS) 2.31% 4.38% 6.68%
FPH Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited -9.41% 2.15% -7.25%
GNE Genesis Energy Limited (NS) 3.57% 8.79% 12.36%
HBL Heartland Bank Limited 1.15% 4.33% 5.48%
IFT Infratil Limited 9.94% 6.83% 16.77%
MCY Mercury NZ Limited (NS) 8.16% 6.22% 14.38%
MDZ NZ Mid Cap Fund (NS) 1.42% 4.68% 6.09%
MEL Meridian Energy Limited (NS) 16.41% 8.22% 24.63%
OCA Oceania Healthcare Limited 1.90% 4.48% 6.38%
PPH Pushpay Holdings Limited -24.46% 0.00% -24.46%
SPK Spark New Zealand Limited 14.33% 8.90% 23.22%
STU Steel & Tube Holdings Limited -41.90% 4.63% -37.28%
SUM Summerset Group Holdings Limited 15.82% 2.38% 18.20%
THL Tourism Holdings Limited -14.88% 5.78% -9.10%
USF US 500 Fund (NS) -1.73% 0.34% -1.39%
ZEL Z Energy Limited -28.42% 6.23% -22.19%
TOTAL -1.77% 4.63% 2.86%

Sharesight20NZX 2018 company news

The A2 Milk Company Limited (NZX: A2M)

Meridian Energy Limited (NZX: MEL)

Spark New Zealand Limited (NZX: SPK)

Summerset Group Holdings Limited (NZX: SUM)

Infratil Limited (NZX: IFT)

Steel and Tube Holdings limited (NZX: STU)

Fletcher Buildings Limited (NZX: FBU)

Pushpay Holdings Limited (NZX: PPH)

Z Energy Limited (NZX: ZEL)

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare corporation limited (NZX: FPH)

Join the investors tracking their NZX portfolios with Sharesight

Get access to insights like this by tracking your investment portfolio with Sharesight. Built for the needs of investors like you:

Sign up for a FREE Sharesight account and get started tracking your investments today.

FURTHER READING

Product updates January 2026

Sharesight product updates – January 2026

by Milly Brent, Business Analyst at Sharesight | Jan 21st 2026

Our latest updates include Abu Dhabi exchange support, enhanced dividend insights, overview page refinements, mobile app improvements and more.

Market outlook

2026 market outlook: Expert insights on risks, rates and opportunities

by Stephanie Stefanovic | Jan 19th 2026

We talk to industry experts about their expectations for markets in 2026 — from inflation and interest rates to market opportunities, the AI bubble and more.

Top trades December 2025

Sharesight users' top trades – December 2025

by Stephanie Stefanovic | Dec 17th 2025

Welcome to the December 2025 edition of Sharesight’s monthly trading snapshot, where we look at the top buy and sell trades by Sharesight users over the month.