Serko jumps up as NZ market edges down

Travel software provider Serko had a great day on the index, while New Zealand's broader market lost some of Friday’s gains.

Monday, January 23rd 2023, 6:05PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 index fell 28.8 points, or 0.24%, to 11,948.72. Turnover was a light $61.6 million.

Serko’s share price jumped over 11% this morning on the news that it had seen stronger-than-expected revenue performance.

The stock ended the day up 8.7% to $2.25. The travel software provider upgraded its revenue guidance for the current financial year thanks to the solid trading results through the traditionally season-low period from late December through to mid-January.

Peter McIntyre from Craigs Investment Partners said Serko’s share jump was positive for the company but its share price was still down almost 60% from this time a year ago.

McIntyre said investors were focussed this week on what the US consumers price index (CPI) data coming out on Wednesday would reveal, as well as the ANZ business outlook survey on Friday.

“A plethora of data is about to hit the market,” he said.

Other stocks to rise today were Smartpay Holdings, which was up 4.5% to $1.40 and Scott Technology, which rose 2.9% to $2.83.

Healthcare manufacturer Ebos Group also edged up 1.9%, to $45.72.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare led NZ’s share market higher on Friday but pushed it in the opposite direction today, with the stock falling 3.5% to $25.34.

Export software provider Trade Window Holdings also had positive news for the market today, announcing that Silver Fern Farms would become one of its “largest customers by revenue” after signing an agreement to provide the meat company with its Cube product.

Chief executive AJ Smith said the scope of the agreement meant that Silver Fern Farms would be one of Trade Window’s largest customers by revenue.

Trade Window shares were flat at 43 cents a share today, with very few traded.

Synlait Milk was down 0.3% to $3.52 in light trading after the dairy producer said it had made continued improvements to its greenhouse gas emissions, with “significant” progress on-farm through the efforts of its farmer suppliers.

Genesis Energy told shareholders that customer numbers increased by 2.5%, to 481,000, relative to the same period last year. The stock was up 1.3% to $2.795 today.

Currency trader OFX said the NZ dollar saw “some gains” on Friday's session, which helped push the kiwi past the 64-cent mark.

“The risk-taking attitude may have been related to expectations of more Chinese stimulus, especially in light of the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) fifth consecutive month of inactivity,” OFX wrote in a note this morning.

The kiwi dollar was trading at 64.90 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, down from 64.01 cents yesterday.

Tags: Market Close