Shares climb on US fiscal stimulus

New Zealand's benchmark share index rose after US lawmakers approved nearly two trillion US dollars of fiscal stimulus to try and shore up the world’s biggest economy as vaccines begin to mute the pandemic.

Tuesday, March 9th 2021, 6:50PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 59.97 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,145.15. Within the index, 24 stocks rose, 23 fell, and three were unchanged. Turnover was $185.8 million.

“Markets traded with more of a positive tone overnight, bolstered by the pending introduction of massive US fiscal stimulus and the hope that the speedy development and distribution of covid-19 vaccines means that the worst may be behind us,” said Mike Smith, an economist at ASB Bank.

Cinema software company Vista Group International led the market higher on light volume. The company rose 5.3% to $1.78 as investors continued to anticipate a global return to cinema’s later this year.

Electricity generators continued volatile trading, although bouncing up today. Meridian Energy climbed 4.1% to $5.36, Genesis Energy rose 3.4% to $3.795, and Contact Energy was up 2.5% at $6.85.

The New Zealand share market – which is largely made up of high-yield stocks sensitive to interest rates – has been deflating as bond yields have crept higher.

While yields eased slightly today, property stocks saw significant falls. Stride Property dropped 4.6% to $2.06, Argosy Property declined 3.4% to $1.43, and all others approximately 2% weaker.

Jason Wong, an interest rate strategist at BNZ Bank, said the interest rate on a US 10-year bond was holding at about 1.6% and supporting the US currency.

“This is doing some damage for sentiment towards emerging market currencies and acting as a drag on the NZD,” he said.

The kiwi dollar was trading 71.27 US cents at 5pm in Wellington, down from 71.57 cents yesterday and after having traded above 74 cents just over a week ago.

This was good news for one exporter to the US - Fisher & Paykel Healthcare had its share price jump 3.5% to $28.29

Outside of the top 50 stocks, Plexure jumped 4.5% to 93 cents after saying it expects to beat its full-year guidance by 1%, earning revenue of $29.2m and an earnings loss of just $5.6m – $1.4m less than forecast.

My Food Bag continued to trade below its IPO price, closing at $1.72 after recovering 1.2% today with 800,000 shares traded.

In currency markets, the trade-weighted index was at 74.71 at 5pm, from 74.81 yesterday. The kiwi traded at 93.01 Australian cents from 93.03, 77.77 yen from 77.61 yen, 60.08 euro cents from 60.12 cents, 51.47 British pence from 51.82 pence, and 4.6447 Chinese yuan from 4.6560 yuan.

Tags: Market Close