NZ shares rise as bond yields ease

Most New Zealand shares rose as bond yields fell from an 18-month high giving equity markets some more room to run.

Wednesday, March 10th 2021, 6:32PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 106.75 points, or 0.9%, to 12,251.9. Within the index, 25 stocks rose, 20 fell, and five were unchanged. Turnover was $168 million.

Peter McIntyre, an investment advisor at Craigs Investment Partners, said the rising long term bond yields had been causing “havoc” and prompting rotation away from high priced stocks.

Today, the yield on a 10-year government bond fell to 1.8% having been sitting well over 1.9% in recent days.

Air New Zealand led the market higher, climbing 3.5% to $1.645, followed by Contact Energy which was up 3.2% at $7.07.

The biggest influence on the market was Fisher & Paykel Healthcare which rose 2.9% to $29.12.

“Fisher & Paykel has yo-yoed over the past few session, both to the downside and upside but it is having a good day today,” McIntyre said.

Fishery firm Sanford posted the day’s biggest loss, falling 3.3% to $4.63, followed by Scales Corp which dropped 3.1% to $4.36.

Goodman Property Trust told investors to expect a “significant property revaluation gain” in its full-year financial report for the year ending March 2021. A draft valuation report says the property portfolio will increase by approximately 12.5%, or $415m.

The company’s share price rose half a percent to $2.20, with higher bond yields acting as something of a headwind for property companies.

McIntyre said most NZ property stocks had protected themselves from rising interest rates by issuing bonds while rates were low.

Outside of the NZX 50, Turners Automotive upgraded its earnings guidance to “at least $35m” up from a range of $33m-to-35m. Directors are now promising a full-year dividend of 18 cents per share.

“It continues to travel really well and is trading at $3.30 after hitting that low of $1.13 on what they call ‘Capitulation Monday’ on the 23rd of March last year,” McIntyre said.

Synlait Milk continued to recover, winning back another 1.9% to reach $3.17, while A2 Milk moved down 1.2% to $9.70.

The kiwi dollar was trading 71.27 US cents at 5pm in Wellington, down from 71.57 cents yesterday.

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 cents, 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