NZ sharemarket closes week with near 0.5% gain

The New Zealand sharemarket ended the week with a near 0.5% gain, driven by strength in the leading energy stocks amid global index changes.

Friday, October 18th 2024, 6:40PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose steadily in the afternoon and closed at 12,823.89, up 55.35 points or 0.43% after reaching an intraday low of 12,708.44.

The index was flat for the week and has risen 8.8% so far this year.

Friday volumes increased on S&P Global Clean Energy Index rebalancing with 45.88 million shares worth $156.29m.

Meridian and Contact’s weightings on the index will be increased, and they gained 11c or 1.83% to $6.125 and 15c or 1.76% to $8.67, respectively. Mercury Energy was up 11c to $6.91, and Manawa added 18c or 3.4% to $5.48.

China Shane

Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said markets were oscillating between central bank rate cuts, China's economic stimulus and the geopolitical risk in the Middle East.

The European Central Bank reduced its official rate for the third time this year – by 25 basis points to 3.25%. Solly said investors were looking at China's economic policy statements over the weekend.

“There’s a bunch of meetings going on, and there’s been a cooling of enthusiasm 'til the details of the latest stimulus are known.”

The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.67% to 3,190.63 points at 5.45pm NZ time, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng had risen 0.75% to 20,229.94.

Solly said the local market was still constructive, and investors were waiting for the right opportunity – “the tone is when to buy rather than if to buy”.

Investors will get further guides next week, with 11 companies holding annual meetings on Wednesday, including Ebos, Fletcher Building, Freightways and Property for Industry.

“They are good indicators of what is happening in the economy, and annual meetings are now quite important because the companies use them to provide trading and earnings updates,” Solly said.

Local stocks

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 40c to $37.01; Gentrack rose 35c or 3.3% to $11.08; Spark rebounded 6.5c or 2.17% to $3.055; Ventia Services increased 28c or 5.31% to $5.55; and Sky TV gained 7c or 2.63% to $2.73.

Solly said Spark has been bouncing around the $3 mark, and there’s a view that a proportion of the global index selling has already occurred. Spark is expected to be removed from the MSCI Global Index in mid-November.

In the property sector, Argosy gained 2c or 1.85% to $1.10; Property for Industry rose 10c or 1.85% to $5.50; and Precinct was up 3.5c or 2.79% to $1.29 after launching a $75m five-year wholesale green bonds issue at an annual rate of 5.42%.

Synlait Milk rose 3c or 7.41% to 43.5c; Rakon was up 2c or 2.94% to 70c; Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund added 8c to $4.98; Seeka increased 9c or 3.1% to $2.99; Delegat Group gained 10c or 1.85% to $5.50 and Oceania Healthcare was up 2c or 2.56% to 80c.

Mainfreight declined 81c to $71.40, a2 Milk was down 12c or 1.8% to $6.53; Fletcher Building decreased 6c or 1.85% to $3.18; Port of Tauranga shed 14c or 2.33% to $5.86; and Chorus eased 14.5c to $8.845.

Turners Automotive was down 8c or 1.75% to $4.50; Michael Hill declined 3c or 5.17% to 55c; Santana Minerals shed 12c or 5.02% to $2.27; Scott Technology eased 7c or 3.66% to $1.84; and Green Cross Health decreased 2c or 2.67% to 73.

Vista Group, down 2c to $3.08, will hold a special meeting on Nov 15, requested by Potentia Capital Management, which has a 19.93% shareholding.

The Vista board has strongly recommended that shareholders vote against removing existing directors Susan Peterson and Kirk Senior and appointing Potentia-nominated candidate Amitesh Chand.

Foley Wines gained 2c, or 2.53%, to 81c after telling shareholders at the annual meeting that it had made a solid start to the 2025 financial year.

Export cases increased 48% to 110,000 in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, and the NZ portfolio has grown by 6%.

Tags: Market Close