NZ shares gain as strong Summerset sales buoy retirement stocks

New Zealand shares joined a global rally, with record fourth-quarter sales at Summerset Group buoying fellow retirement village stocks.

Tuesday, January 9th 2024, 6:02PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 108.97 points, or 0.9%, to 11,844.39, snapping a two-day decline. Summer trading on the main board remained relatively quiet, with 16.2 million shares changing hands for a turnover of $64.7m, and 92 stocks gaining and 33 declining.

A strong day on Wall Street led by US tech stocks kicked off gains in global markets, with Australian and NZ stocks joining the rally.

Summerset was among the stronger performers on the day, rising 3.9% to $10.86 after reporting a record 360 sales in the December quarter, with 186 new sales and 174 resales.

That took annual sales to 1,103, and chief executive Scott Scoular said he was optimistic for the coming year with strong demand and pre-sales for occupation rights and positive signs the residential property market was improving.

“The day’s big story was Summerset’s absolute ripper of a quarterly update,” Shane Solly, a portfolio manager at Harbour Asset Management, said. “That dragged up other parts of the market in quite a broad rally.”

Healthy living

Arvida climbed 5.2% to $1.21, aged care operator Oceania Healthcare advanced 2.7% to 77 cents, and Ryman Healthcare gained 0.7% to $5.75.

Property stocks also rallied, with Precinct Properties NZ up 2.4% at $1.29, Property For Industry rising 1.8% to $2.24, Kiwi Property Group advancing 1.8% to 87 cents, and Investore Property climbing 1.7% to $1.21.

Solly said this week's US inflation figures will be important for analysts in gauging when and how much interest rates will fall, with markets getting optimistic about how early and steeply central banks will move.

The US Federal Reserve’s federal open market committee will meet at the end of January and minutes of their December meeting indicated cuts were likely this year, although the path was uncertain.

Pleasant surprise

Fletcher Building rose 3% to $4.88 with stronger-than-expected building approval data in Australia. Steel & Tube climbed 5.6% to $1.13, and Vulcan Steel gained 1.6% to $8.23. Metro Performance Glass was unchanged at 13.8 cents.

Australian retail data also beat expectations, and local retailers might start updating the market on their Christmas and new year sales periods in the coming weeks.

Retailers were mixed as KMD Brands rose 1.4% to 74 cents, Briscoe Group fell 0.7% to $4.62, Warehouse Group was unchanged at $1.57, Michael Hill International declined 1% to 95 cents, and Hallenstein Glasson edged up 0.2% to $5.50.

Local tech stocks were among those under pressure today, with Pacific Edge falling 7.4% to 11.2 cents, Eroad declining 5.3% to 90 cents, and Vista Group dropping 4.2% to $1.60.

Synlait Milk fell 1.1% to 95 cents after brokerage Forsyth Barr downgraded its target price on the stock to $1.10 from $1.40.

A2 Milk Co, in a dispute with its supplier Synlait, rose 1.9% to $4.40, while the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund unit advanced 0.6% to $3.46.

Employment software minnow Geo bounced back from Monday’s near-halving in value as it rose 18.2%, or 0.2 of a cent, to 1.3 cents – the firm plans to delist from the NZ stock exchange due to the cost of listing.

Stock market operator NZX was unchanged at $1.07.

Spark NZ was the most traded stock on the day with 1.5m shares changing hands as it rose 0.2% to $5.20, while Meridian Energy was the only other company to cross the million-share threshold with 1.2m traded, rising 1.4% to $5.71.

NZ King Salmon Investments extended its rally to a sixth session, rising 7.8% to 27.5 cents.

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