NZ sharemarket celebrates a near 1% Easter rise

The New Zealand sharemarket headed into the Easter break in a happy place with a rise of nearly 1%, despite a trading halt, voluntary administration and a Fisher and Paykel Healthcare product recall.

Thursday, March 28th 2024, 6:23PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index had a strong afternoon and closed at 12,105.29, up 94.62 points or 0.79% after reaching an intraday low of 11,950.78. The index finished the shortened week more than 1% ahead and has increased 2.8% year to date.

But from a low of 10,741.57 points on Oct 30, the index has risen nearly 13% in five months.

There were 104 gainers and 27 decliners over the whole market on healthy end-of-quarter volumes of 45.91 million share transactions worth $186.1m.

'Getting there'

Greg Smith, head of retail with Devon Funds Management, said it’s been a strong month and quarter for global markets.

“The Kiwi market has come to the party a little late, but it’s getting there.”

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said: “We’ve seen a very broad-based rally across the local market, led by the potential for interest rate cuts before the end of the year.”

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 77c or 2.91% to $25.65 after announcing it voluntarily recalled a batch of Airvo 2 and myAirvo 2 respiratory devices manufactured before Aug 14, 2017, because of a speaker configuration issue.

The company said the issue that may result in distorted, intermittent or inaudible alarm sound levels does not affect the therapy delivered by some 9,000 devices remaining in use. The recall would cost about $12m, and the devices would be replaced.

Smith said a product recall would normally send shivers down the spine but Fisher and Paykel’s is pretty immaterial for what is involved.

Synlait Milk, last traded at 75c, went into a trading halt on the day it was due to repay $130m to its banking syndicate.

Synlait said it wanted additional time to finalise separate discussions over financial support with the syndicate and its major shareholder, Bright Dairy. Synlait is releasing its half-year financial result on Tuesday.

Smith said it looks like an uncomfortable weekend for the Synlait executives. The company is copping it on a number of fronts – it is trying to sell assets and hasn’t found a buyer – and its balance sheet will be in sharp focus next week.

Synlait may be looking at a heavily discounted rights issue.

Medicinal cannabis company Cannasouth, last traded at 9.8c, went into voluntary administration with the convertible noteholders appointing Blacklock Rose to prepare a plan for its ongoing operations.

Market

There were plenty of strong price movements. Mercury Energy was up 22c or 3.28% to $6.93; Vector increased 14c or 3.75% to $3.87; Ebos Group gained 40c to $34.25; Mainfreight collected 70c to $69.70; and Heartland Group rose 9c or 7.56% to $1.28.

In other banks, ANZ was up 70c or 2.24% to $31.90, and Westpac increased 54c or 1.94% to $28.42.

Amongst the property stocks, Goodman Trust increased 5c or 2.24% to $2.28; Stride was up 6c or 4.65% to $1.35; Kiwi gained 1.5c or 1,82% to 84c; and Property for Industry added 4.5c or 1.96% to $2.345.

Ryman Healthcare increased 13c or 2.94% to $4.55; Freightways collected 28c or 3.27% to $8.85; Serko rose 11c or 2.91% to $3.89; Tourism Holdings gained 14c or 4.61% to $3.18; and Scales Corp was up 7c or 2.13% to $3.35.

Skellerup Holdings increased 25c or 5.85% to $4.52 after announcing the appointment of Graham Leaming as the chief executive to replace David Mair, who remains a non-executive director.

Tim Runnalls has become the chief financial officer in place of Leaming.

Auckland International Airport was up 5c to $8.35 after having its weighting increased on the S&P Infrastructure Index. The airport told the market that chair Patrick Strange is retiring at the annual meeting in October to be replaced by Julia Hoare.

Clothing retailer Hallenstein Glasson gained 15c or 2.38% to $6.45 after reporting steady first-half revenue of $222.95m, down 0.2% and net profit of $21.14m, up 1.5%. It is paying an interim dividend of 24c a share on April 18.

Glassons Australia sales for the six months ending Feb 1 were $107.1m, up 4.1%, and NZ $57.1m, down 5.8%. Hallenstein Brothers had revenue of $58.8m, down 1.7%, and online sales were 17.3% of group revenue, down from 18.1%.

Restaurant Brands declined 12c or 3.31% to $3.50; KMD Brands fell 4c or 6.78 to 55c; and Manawa Energy was down 9c or 1.94% to $4.55.

Tags: Market Close