NZ stocks, dollar rally as Democrats prepare stimulus

New Zealand stocks and the dollar rallied after US President Joe Biden’s inauguration passed uneventfully and cleared the path for more fiscal stimulus in the world’s biggest economy.

Thursday, January 21st 2021, 7:12PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 85.74 points, or 0.7 percent, to 13,112.19. Within the index, 34 stocks rose, 12 fell and four were unchanged. Turnover was $180.3 million.

The new president and Democrat-controlled Senate took the oath of office in a heavily guarded and socially distanced ceremony early on Thursday morning NZ time.

Share markets in the US and Asia rallied as investors hoped for expanded fiscal stimulus and a more stable political climate.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq rose 2 percent and the S&P 500 was up 1.4 percent, giving a strong lead to Asian financial markets. The yield on a 10-year NZ government bond crept up 2 basis points to 1.06 percent.

US church donation company Pushpay Holdings led the local market higher, climbing 5.3 percent to $1.60. The stock is still down almost 12 percent so far this year.

Peter McIntyre, an investment advisor at Craigs Investment Partners, said institutional investors were buying the stock after a sustained period of weakness.

“I think the market was unconvinced by its growth. It had been expecting more last time it reported,” he said.

The renewable electricity generators bounced back from recent selling, Meridian Energy up 4.4 percent at $7.68 and Contact Energy up 4.1 percent to $8.83.

McIntyre said some brokers had upgraded Contact’s target price to more than $9 after it was announced the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter would remain open until 2024.

Both stocks have also benefited in the past month from investors buying clean energy ETFs to position themselves for Biden’s push to clean up the US energy sector.

Chorus had the day’s biggest fall, dropping 1.9 percent to $8.10. It followed Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which fell 1.3 percent to $33.26 as it gave up some of yesterday’s bounce.

Fuel retailer Z Energy rose 0.6 percent to $3.13. Analysts at Forsyth Barr today reiterated their ‘outperform’ rating on the stock, despite trimming its target price to $4.30.

The kiwi dollar climbed back above 72 US cents as it rode the enthusiasm for risk-assets following the Biden inauguration.

It was trading at 72.07 US cents at 5pm in Wellington, up from 71.26 cents yesterday.

The trade-weighted index was at 74.46 at 5pm, from 73.80 yesterday. The kiwi traded at 92.67 Australian cents from 92.33 cents, 74.57 yen from 73.95 yen, 59.40 euro cents from 58.67 cents, 52.67 British pence from 52.21 pence, and 4.6559 Chinese yuan from 4.6104 yuan.

Tags: Market Close