NZ sharemarket closes week with near 0.5% gain

The New Zealand sharemarket closed the see-sawing week with a gain of nearly half a percent as it looked positively ahead to the latest financial reporting season.

Friday, May 12th 2023, 6:42PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose from a morning low of 11,857.85 to finish at 11,938.84, up 51.08 points or 0.43%.

The index also gained the same amount for the week after the previous four days of ups and downs cancelled each other out. The index has now risen more than 4.2% so far this year.

There were 66 gainers and 61 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 37.88 million share transactions worth $130.23m.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said: “We have gone against the grain with markets weaker offshore.”

The markets were spooked by lower-than-expected loan activity in China and the re-emergence of banking concerns in the United States. The banks are facing making a higher contribution to the deposit insurance pool.

Solly said investors here have reset their expectations leading into the reporting season. “We do see the rate of earnings decline slowing, as has been the case in Australia and the United States. The company reporting there was not as bad as expected.”

He said investors were presently under-exposed in shares and they were looking at companies that could sustain or grow their earnings through a slowing economy. “Our market is benefitting because people can put their money to work in defensive stocks.”

Manawa Energy is the first company to report on Tuesday, followed by Argosy Property, Serko (Wednesday), Goodman Property Trust (Thursday), Investore and Ryman Healthcare (Friday).

The market was driven up by Fisher and Paykel Healthcare gaining 52c or 1.97% to $26.87; Mainfreight collecting 40c to $70; Fletcher Building increasing 10c or 2.14% to $4.78; a2 Milk rebounding 16c or 2.84% to $5.79; and Infratil adding 13.5c to $9.495.

Meridian Energy, up 3c to $5.50, reported that national hydro storage increased from 119% to 121% of the historical average in the month to May 8, and retail sales volumes were 2.7% lower in April compared with the same month last year.

Warehouse Group was up 5c or 2.91% to $1.77 after telling the market that trading improved in the third quarter despite a challenging consumer environment. Group sales increased 3.8% to $801.3m for the 13 weeks ending April compared with the same period last year.

The Warehouse sales were up 10.5% to $444.1m, Warehouse Stationery sales were down 2.5% to $65.7m, Noel Leeming was down 3.4% to $247.8m, and Torpedo7 was down 3% to $35.4m. Group year-to-date sales were $2.6b, up 4.5%.

Other retailers Michael Hill declined 2c or 1.89% to $1.04; Briscoe Group down 10c or 2.22% to $4.40; and Hallenstein Glasson decreased 9c to $6.40. Online travel provider Serko increased 10c or 4.55% to $2.30 after reporting that its US partner CWT has made an expanded arrangement with Booking.com. Both businesses will add content and servicing to Serko’s technology platform.

Spark, up 1c to $5.22, has an agreement with the crown for a direct allocation of C-band mobile spectrum which will be used in the rollout of 5G services, including 27 sites in 25 regional towns.

In return, Spark will invest an additional $24m over the next two years to support the expansion of mobile coverage into rural NZ and address blackspots on state highways.

Other gainers were Air NZ increasing 2c or 2.63% to 78c; Move Logistics rising 4c or 4.65% to 89c; Tower up 2c or 3.45% to 59c; Allied Farms improving 3c or 4.35% to 72c; and Steel & Tube adding 2c or 1.94% to $1.05.

Mercury Energy was down 15c or 2.29% to $6.40; Ebos Group declined 30c to $44.10; Chorus gave up 10c to $8.50; Heartland Group shed 5c or 3.21% to $1.51; Sky TV decreased 5c or 1.89% to $2.60; and Napier Port, now a volatile stock, was down 8c or 3.14% to $2.47.

NZME shed 2c or 1.92% to $1.02; Foley Wines declined 4c or 3.01% to $1.29; Accordant Group was down 3c or 1.9% to $1.55; ikeGPS decreased 3c or 3.75% to 77c; and Cannasouth gave up1c or 3.45% to 28c.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ, up 4c or 1.9% to $2.15, expressed disappointment at the supreme court ruling that backed the Accommodation Provider Targeted Rate (bed tax) imposed by Auckland council, maintaining that the rate is unfair and inequitable.

“We consider the supreme court missed a unique opportunity to provide guidance to local government across New Zealand and should have clarified the position on how targeted rates should work,” said Millennium.

Tags: Market Close