NZ shares up as investors look for data signals

NZ shares edged higher as financial markets resettled after a tumultuous week which saw a severe reaction to the mere suggestion the US central bank may tighten monetary policy.

Wednesday, June 23rd 2021, 6:40PM

by BusinessDesk

Salt Funds portfolio manager Matt Goodson said market gyrations led from the United States had settled and many prices had returned to where they started.

“Where to from here will be very data dependent,” he told BusinessDesk.

In the past two days, consumer confidence on both sides of the Tasman Sea climbed above already high levels and NZ electronic card spending jumped 8.5%.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 40.05 points, or 0.3%, to 12,574.85 today. Turnover was $176.7 million.

Port of Tauranga led the market higher, climbing 3.1% to $7.07 after a couple of weak days, and logistics firm Mainfreight climbed 2.5% to $75.10.

Sky Network Television was up 1.8% at 17.1 cents having secured partnerships with the NRL and New Zealand Rugby League until the end of 2027.

Last week, rival Spark Sport snatched the broadcasting rights for the Rugby League World Cup away from Sky.

IkeGPS said it had extended an agreement with an engineering company that will generate an extra $1.2m of transaction revenue in the financial year ending March 2022.

The pole management company also closed a $365,000 contract on a fibre network construction project. Its shares jumped 5.5% to $1.16.

Trustpower today batted down suggestions from the media that it was under investigation from the Commerce Commission. Its shares closed up 0.4% at $7.65, after a sharp fall yesterday.

The commission has made enquiries regarding Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust's distributions, but they do not relate to Mercury’s acquisition or the energy trusts restructure.

Shares in market heavyweight, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare climbed 1.7% to $32.10 helping the index eke out a positive gain.

Skellerup Holdings posted the day’s biggest fall, down 3.1% at $4.65, while Air New Zealand dropped another 1.3% to $1.57 – bringing its decline this month to more than 7%.

Goodson said the stock had been sliding since it told investors to expect another significant loss next financial year. The airline needs to raise more than $1b of capital before September ends.

The kiwi dollar continued to recover slowly and was trading at 69.98 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 69.77 cents yesterday.

The trade-weighted index was at 73.74 at 3pm, from 73.46 yesterday. The kiwi traded at 92.80 Australian cents from 92.75 cents, 77.56 yen from 76.96 yen, 58.69 euro cents from 58.60 cents, 50.24 British pence from 50.16 pence, and 4.5347 Chinese yuan from 4.5077 yuan.

Tags: Market Close