NZ shares gain as Infratil rallies on fresh capital

New Zealand shares joined a global rally, with Infratil one of the frontrunners after the infrastructure investment firm resumed trading fresh off a successful $1 billion to institutional investors.

Tuesday, June 18th 2024, 6:15PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 68.89 points, or 0.6%, to 11,767.40. Within the index, 68 stocks gained, 69 fell and 44 were unchanged. Turnover was $192 million, with Infratil accounting for $59.4m.

The local market was buoyed by a global rally ahead of a series of Federal Reserve speakers in the US, soothed nerves about the upcoming French election in Europe and in the run-up to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s policy review, which kept the target cash rate unchanged at 4.35% as expected.

Infratil was among the day’s biggest gainers, up 3.9% at $11.31 on a volume of 5.4m as it resumed trading from its $1b placement to institutional investors, who bought at a discounted $10.15 a share.

The investment firm will sell a further $150m of stock to retail investors, using the proceeds to help fuel the growth of its CDC data business, which is latching on to burgeoning demand for artificial intelligence applications.

“It’s a great story at the moment – they are in the right place at the right time with their data centres, and the other businesses are also going well,” Mark Lister, investment director at Craigs Investment Partners, said.

“Investors are very comfortable with the story, the strategy and what they’re doing and there are expectations of it being a bigger stock.”

Fletcher Building also recovered some of its recent losses, rising 3.5% to $2.99 after announcing Martin Brydon will step down from the board at the company’s annual meeting in October in the latest shake-up to its governance and management team.

Meanwhile, other building materials firms extended their recent declines with Vulcan Steel down 0.8% at $7.44 and Steel & Tube falling 5.5% to 86 cents. Metro Performance Glass was unchanged at 7 cents.

Warehouse Group also rallied after saying it’s slimmed down its executive team to focus on its Red and Blue Sheds and Noel Leeming brands. The shares climbed 3.7% to $1.12.

Other retailers were mixed after data showed consumer sentiment near historic lows, with Michael Hill International up 2.1% at 48 cents, Briscoe Group unchanged at $4.10, Hallenstein Glasson unchanged at $5.45 and KMD Brands sinking 3.5% to 41 cents.

The dual-listed Australian banks held on to gains running into the RBA meeting, with ANZ Group up 2.5% at $31.75 and Westpac Banking Corp advancing 1.5% to $29.40. Heartland Group Holdings, which this year completed its acquisition of Australia’s Challenger Bank, rose 1% to 97 cents.

Exporters were generally stronger as the kiwi dollar remained subdued, trading at 61.16 US cents at 5pm in Wellington. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 1.8% to $31.04, winemaker Delegat Group advanced 4.3% to $4.85 and A2 Milk increased 0.1% to $7.22.

Air NZ was unchanged at 53.5 cents after announcing plans to boost capacity on its Auckland-Tokyo route during the prime minister’s delegation to Japan. Auckland International Airport rose 1.6% to $7.545.

Argosy Property fell 0.9% to $1. 5 after telling shareholders at today’s annual meeting that it’s still facing challenging trading conditions and increased tax obligations on the government’s building depreciation rules.

Among other property companies, Investore Property fell 4.8% to 99 cents, Stride Property declined 1.6% to $1.21, Property For Industry was down 0.2% at $2.18, Kiwi Property was unchanged at 80.5 cents, Goodman Property was unchanged at $2.12, and Precinct Properties NZ rose 1.8% to $1.5 on a volume of 1.1m shares.

Power companies remained under pressure after yesterday’s operating metrics showed hydro lakes storage below historical averages. Mercury NZ fell 1.9% to $6.36, Genesis Energy declined 1.6% to $2.16, Meridian Energy decreased 0.3% to $6.25 and Contact Energy slipped 0.2% to $9.15.

Carbon Fund units fell 1.4% to $1.44 ahead of this week’s auction, which will offer almost 4.1m NZ units.

Among the more heavily traded companies, Spark NZ was unchanged at $4.03 with 4m shares changing hands and Smartshares Global Aggregate Bond ETF units fell 0.6% to $1.176 on a volume of 1.1m.

Tags: Market Close