NZ shares, kiwi push higher in light holiday trading
The New Zealand dollar and the local stock market pushed higher in light trading on the second to last trading day for 2021.
Thursday, December 30th 2021, 6:52PM
by BusinessDesk
The kiwi rose to 68.44 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 68.11 cents at 5pm on Wednesday.
Short positioning is quite large in some currencies – such as the kiwi – “so the path of least resistance is probably higher given lack of flow and volumes,” said Tim Kelleher, head of institutional foreign exchange sales at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The kiwi is benefiting from some general profit-taking on long US dollar positions and “there may be some year-end window dressing going on as well”, he said.
Markets are betting on the US dollar to rise because they are assuming the US Federal Reserve will be next to act and they are “far behind the rate hike curve”, he said.
The stock market, meanwhile, ended the day higher despite a slide across the Tasman as retail investors remain upbeat about a handful of stock.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index was up 0.8%, or 100.5 points, at 13,040.94. Turnover was $83.9 million.
One of the biggest gainers on the mainboard was TradeWindow, up 12.2% at $2.30. Investors continue to take a punt on the newly listed software company that digitises and streamlines trade documentation.
The company listed in November, marking the first early-stage technology company to list on the NZX in nearly seven years. It’s up 35% since listing.
Vulcan Steel, which also listed in November, was another to find favour among investors, adding 5.5% to close at $10.29. The company – which is listed on both the ASX and NZX – is a pure-play steel company.
Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said investors didn’t seem too concerned about the two cases of omicron that had been found in the community.
Earlier today, the Ministry of Health confirmed a second omicron case had been in the community involving an Air New Zealand crew member who worked on a flight between Auckland and Sydney on Dec 24.
The person is fully vaccinated. Eight close contacts have been identified, seven of whom have returned negative test results.
At this stage, there are no known locations of interest.
Williamson said people have realised that omicron in the community is inevitable and “I think it's just something that everyone is just taking in their stride. Fingers crossed it is what they say it is and it's not going to lead to a lot of hospitalisation,” he said.
Among other gainers, Heartland Bank and Skellerup continued to see buying interest in reaction to the NZ Herald’s Brokers’ Picks, he said.
Heartland rose 2.9% to $2.52 while Skellerup was up 3.2% at $6.41.
“They are all seeing some retail buying on the back of that article. Elsewhere, there’s no real theme," he said.
Businesses will have breathed a sigh of relief that the government didn't change any settings on the back of news that omicron was in the community. However, investors weren't keen to snap up hospitality stocks.
Restaurant Brands was unchanged at $13.80 ahead of Auckland's move to orange under the traffic light system while SkyCity Entertainment was also unchanged at $3.08.
Other hospitality stock also trod water, with Savor ending unchanged at 48 cents and Good Spirits Hospitality flat at 7.2 cents.
Under orange, most businesses can open with no restrictions on numbers if they choose to follow My Vaccine Pass requirements, and only allow people with a valid My Vaccine Pass to enter.
Cinema software developer Vista Group International rose 4.4% to $2.39, leading the benchmark index.
Meanwhile, the market remained down a smidge for the year and if it doesn’t break even it will be the first time since 2011.
Williamson noted, however, that by stripping out large-cap stocks such as A2 Milk, “the market has actually had a pretty good year”.
A2 Milk is down 51% this year and ended today unchanged at $5.89.
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