NZ sharemarket up 1% after yesterday's 1.5% fall

Another day, another turnaround.

Thursday, October 17th 2024, 6:25PM

by BusinessDesk

The New Zealand sharemarket posted a 1% gain after recovering from a bout of hectic selling the day before.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index gained in strength as the day wore on and closed at 12,768.54, up 127.22 points or 1.01% following the previous 1.55% fall.

A total of 36.68 million shares worth $129.04m changed hands.

'Rumour mill'

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the falling inflation rate to 2.2% probably spooked some offshore investors worried about the cross-rate with the Australian dollar.

“The rumour mill is now talking up a 75 basis points cut in the official cash rate next month, and large movements in interest rates do affect the NZ dollar,” he said.

ANZ Research said for the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) to consider a 0.75% reduction, “we’d likely need to see a much weaker third quarter labour market read than expected.”

That release is on Nov 6.

The NZ dollar weakened from A91c to just under A90.5c against the Australian after the September consumers price index was released. The kiwi was trading at A90.96c, down from 92c in a month.

Wall Street had another strong day, boosted by strong reporting of third quarter earnings. The big banks have led the way. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new high, up 0.79% to 43,077.7 points, and so did S&P 500, gaining 0.47% to 5,842.47. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.28% to 18,367.08.

Local stocks

At home, Ebos Group rebounded 59c to $36.50; Fletcher Building was up 11c or 3.51% to $3.24; Freightways collected 35c or 3.68% to $9.85; Ryman Healthcare increased 13c or 2.69% to $4.96; and Chorus gained 17c to 1.93% to $8.99.

Infratil increased 25c or 2.08% to $12.25; Mainfreight was up 95c to $72.21; Port of Tauranga added 13c or 2.21% to $6; Napier Port collected 9c or 4.09% to $2.29; and Turners Automotive gained 8c or 1.78% to $4.58.

Energy stocks Meridian increased 12.5c or 2.12% to $6.015, and Mercury was up 10c to $6.80.

Banking groups Westpac was up 58c to $35.58, and Heartland gained 3c or 2.97% to $1.04.

Retailers Briscoe Group increased 14c or 2.89% to $4.99; KMD Brands added 1.5c or 3.23% to 48c, and Michael Hill gained 3c or 5.45% to 58c.

Auckland International Airport, up 11c to $7.55, reconfirmed its full-year net profit guidance of $280m-$320m and capital expenditure of between $1 billion and $1.3b. The company told shareholders at the annual meeting that 27 airlines are flying non-stop between Auckland and 42 destinations – an increase of two over the previous year.

Tourism Holdings increased 6c or 3.43% to $1.81 after telling shareholders at the annual meeting that it expects to achieve net profit growth in the second half of the 2025 financial year, driven by stronger rental activity in NZ through the high season.

However, the challenging operating conditions for vehicle sales continued in the first half of the fourth quarter of the 2024 financial year. Tourism Holdings said the recent high season in the United States was positive, Canada was flat, and Australia mixed.

Rental revenue per vehicle in North America has improved.

South Port NZ, up 15c or 2.75% to $5.60, confirmed at its annual meeting that full-year earnings guidance remained at $9.3m-$10.3m and that dividend payments would at least maintain the current level.

Other gainers were Enprise, rising 4.5c or 11.11% to 45c; Air NZ, up 1c or 1.89% to 54c; Steel & Tube, increasing 3c or 3.23% to 96c; and 2 Cheap Cars, collecting 2c or 2.6% to 79c.

Eroad declined 4c or 4.26% to 90c; Vulcan Steel fell 40c or 4.4% to $8.69; Delegat Group decreased 10c or 1.82% to $5.40; Smartpay shed 4c or 5.03% to 75.5c; Radius Residential Care was down 1.5c or 8.33% to 16.5c; and Move Logistics eased 1.4c or 6.67% to 19.6c.

SkyCity Entertainment was down 4c or 2.76% to $1.41. The High Court in Australia has ruled that SkyCity Adelaide must pay A$13.1m (NZ$14.45m) in additional casino duty – the amount has already been provisioned.

However, the Supreme Court will decide whether SkyCity must pay penalty interest up to A$25.3m (NZ$27.9 m).

Scott Technology declined 9c or 4.5% to $1.91 after reporting a 3% increase in operating revenue to $276.12m and a 50% fall in net profit to $7.71m for the 12 months ending August.

Scott is paying a final dividend of 3c a share on Nov 20. Scott moved from custom-built automation systems to scalable products, and revenue in its core areas of materials handling, meat processing and minerals equipment grew 12%, making up 85% of the total group revenue.

The company has $160m worth of forward work.

Tags: Market Close