NZ shares rise on trans-Tasman bubble

Auckland International Airport led the share market higher as Australian visitors poured through its international terminal for the first time since March last year.

Monday, April 19th 2021, 6:16PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 83.1 points, or 0.7%, to 12,767.83. Within the index, 30 stocks rose, 14 fell, and six were unchanged. Turnover was $153.6 million.

Opening the bubble with Australia has many economic implications and likely “marks another big step back towards life as we knew it”, said Chris Tennent-Brown, an ASB Bank economist.

Personal travel between Australia and New Zealand usually adds around $500 million to the domestic economy each year, although that contribution is smaller during winter.

Auckland International Airport is the most obvious beneficiary of increased travel. Its stock rose 4.7% to $7.73 as scenes of families reunited and various zany sideshows at the airport were broadcast across media channels.

Jarden analysts have previously estimated a quarantine-free bubble could bring between an additional 5 million passengers through the airport. The uninhibited travel could lift monthly earnings from about $13m in the second half of 2021 to an estimated $31m in the 2022 financial year.

Air New Zealand saw a smaller bounce, up 1.1% to $1.80. The airline said it would transport 5,200 passengers in 30 flights across the Tasman.

Chief executive Greg Foran described it as “day one of our revival”, although the company still has a hefty capital raise ahead which many investors will be waiting for.

Tilt Renewables' share price jumped 5% to $7.98 after Mercury NZ and Powering Australian Renewables raised their takeover offer to $8.10 per share in exchange for exclusivity.

A rival offer threw the deal into question on Thursday and the two companies were forced to upgrade their bid to keep the renewable electricity assets from being snatched out of their hands.

Mercury rose 0.4% to $6.82 as it locked in its purchase of Tilt’s wind farms that will increase its generation capacity by about 15%.

Small time player, NZ Windfarms also got a boost as investors saw the high prices buyers were willing to shell out for clean energy assets. Its share price rose 4.9% to 21.5 cents.

Skellerup raised its earnings guidance for a second time – by as much as 18% – on the strong performance of its industrial and dairy consumable products.

The company now expects net profit between $37m and $39m, up from February guidance of $33m and $37m. Its share price fell 0.9% to $4.31

Meridian Energy had the day’s biggest decline, falling 2.6% to $5.89 as the share price continues to settle after the enormous sell down from passive funds on Friday.

The kiwi dollar was trading 71.41 US cents at 5pm in Wellington, down slightly from 71.62 cents on Friday.

The trade-weighted index was at 74.61 at 5pm, from 74.83 on Friday. The kiwi traded at 92.33 Australian cents from 92.51 cents, 77.60 yen from 77.94 yen, 59.71 euro cents from 59.85 cents, 51.54 British pence from 52.02 pence, and 4.6594 Chinese yuan from 4.6728 yuan.

Tags: Market Close