NZ sharemarket up 0.1% on flat trading day

It was a flat day on the New Zealand sharemarket, but some confidence returned to Synlait Milk after arranging new loan terms with its bankers, and Port of Tauranga found a new lease of life.

Wednesday, July 3rd 2024, 6:16PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fluctuated between 11,815.16 and 11,745.46 on quiet trading and closed at 11,790.92, up 14.18 points or 0.12%.

There were 61 gainers and 64 decliners on the main board, with 30.87 million shares worth $99.64m changing hands.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices posted new milestones, for the first time closing above 5,500 and 18,000 points respectively.

The Nasdaq, which has gained 22% this year and 305% over the past 10 years, was up 0.84% to 18,028.76 points, though Nvidia declined 1.31% to US$122.67 (NZ$201.70).

Three other members of the Magnificent Seven reached new highs – Apple was up 1.62% to US$220.27, Amazon increased 1.42% to US$200, and Microsoft added 0.56% to US$459.28.

Tesla climbed 10.2% to US$231.26 after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter electric vehicle deliveries of 443,956, down 4.8% from a year ago but up 14.8% from the first quarter.

The S&P 500 gained 0.62% to 5,509.01 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.41% to 39,331.85.

The US market was heartened by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s comment that progress was being made on inflation. Speaking to a central banking forum, he said, “The last inflation reading and the one before it, to a lesser extent, suggest that we are getting back on the disinflationary path.”

Local market

At home, Synlait Milk, just a week away from its special meeting to approve a $130m loan from majority shareholder Bright Dairy, increased 0.005c or 2.2% to 23c after reaching an agreement with its bank lenders.

Synlait has secured waivers for its leverage and interest coverage ratios and maturity/limit stepdowns to July 31 – until such time that its capital raise is completed.

The approval is subject to the addition of a covenant to achieve a minimum adjusted full-year ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of $45m. Synlait’s half-year adjusted ebitda was $36.1m.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said Synlait’s banking amendments sparked a decent rally as investors awaited the special meeting and a2 Milk’s position as a large shareholder. (A2 was down 7c to $7.18).

“On June 19, Synlait’s (listed) bond was yielding 49c in the dollar, and in recent days, it has rallied to 76c despite the share price haemorrhaging. Sometimes the bond market can have a different view on outcomes than the equity market,” he said.

Port of Tauranga surged 40c or 8.16% to $5.30. Goodson said the port company has had several broker upgrades lately, and “perhaps there’s a view that pricing in the sector is a little more rational than in the past.”

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 51c or 1.74% to $29.90; Chorus added 11c to $7.87; Summerset gained 15c to $9.50; Serko increased 8c or 2.39% to $3.43; and Tower rose 3.5c or 4.02% to 90.5c.

AFT Pharmaceuticals improved 18c or 6.29% to $3.04; Sky TV increased 7c or 2.82% to $2.56; PGG Wrightson gained 5c or 2.7% to $1.90; and 2 Cheap Cars collected 2c or 2.5% to 82c.

Energy stocks Manawa and Vector gained 11c or 2.66% to $4.24 and 7c or 1.91% to $3.73, respectively. Ebos Group, declining 55c to $31.85, has increased its shareholding in Australian-based MedAdvisor to 9.8%.

Ebos originally had 14.1%, but the stake was diluted by share issues.

MedAdvisor is a virtual pharmacist that connects more than 3m users with their local pharmacy to seek medication advice.

Auckland International Airport was down 12c to $7.60; Fletcher Building decreased 7c or 2.35% to $2.91; Ryman Healthcare declined 7c or 1.97% to $3.348; Winton Land fell 13c or 6.66% to $1.84; and Accordant Group shed 3c or 6.98% to 40c.

Smartpay decreased 2.5c or 1.89% to $1.30; My Food Bag eased 0.005c or 3.65% to 13.2c; Chatham Rock Phosphate shed 0.008c or 5.93% to 12.7c; and Blackpearl Group was down 2c or 2.86% to 68c.

TruScreen, down 0.002c or 11.76% to 1.5c, has been threatened with suspension on the NZX after missing the July 1 date for filing its annual report. It has five business days to publish its report.

PaySauce, unchanged at 23c, reported annual recurring revenue of $8.2m, up 18%, at the end of the June first quarter and customers increased 7% to 7,611. The recurring revenue for the quarter was $2.1m, up 20%, and processing fee revenue was $1.5m, up 18%.

New Talisman Gold Mines, down 0.003c or 13.04% to 2c, is making an offer to existing shareholders at 0.018c a new share for every one share held.

Tags: Market Close