Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares rose as equity investors took heart from comments by Chinese President Xi Jinping that he favoured an open economy and lower tariffs. Pushpay Holdings, Ryman Healthcare, Air New Zealand, Trade Me and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group gained.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 15.64 points, or 0.2%, to 8469.77. Within the index, 24 stocks rose, 15 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was a lowerthanaverage $91.5 million.

Equity benchmarks across Asia and US stock futures rose after Xi delivered a speech to the Chinese Boao Forum for Asia, in which he said China would raise the foreign ownership limit for Chinese automakers and cut tariffs on imported products.

Ryman rose 1.9% to $10.80 and Content gained 1.7% to $5.30. Heartland Bank rose 1.2% to $1.72 and Mainfreight gained $24.60. Air New Zealand rose 1% to $3.385.

Volumes traded on the NZX, though, have been low, although institutional investors look to have loaded up on Fletcher Building, buying shares that have shed a quarter of their value in the past 12 months, a sign that it may offer relative value after the slide.

Fletcher was unchanged at $6.01, having recovered from a nineyear low of about $5.77 last week. A total $15 million of shares changed hands, making it the most heavily traded stock by value on the market yesterday.

ANZ Bank rose 1.1% to $28.62 and Westpac Banking Corp gained 0.8% to $31.05, which McIntyre said reflected gains in bank stocks on the ASX yesterday.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was the biggest decliner, falling 1.9% to $13.37, having reached a fiveweek high yesterday.

NZX was unchanged at $1.08 after the market operator released a paper for feedback that included proposals to increase liquidity and transparency in the market. The local bourse has one of the highest levels of offmarket trading compared to its peers.

Australian shares and markets across Asia have lifted after China’s president, Xi Jinping, promised to widen market access for foreign investors, a statement that helped ease concerns over a potential trade war between the US and China.

President Xi’s comments boosted the Australian dollar, while US share market futures were also higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 48.3 points, or 0.83% to 5857.0 points yesterday.

On the local market, in the mining sector, BHP Billiton added 0.8% to $28.88, Fortescue Metals jumped 3.7% to $4.44, and Rio Tinto gained 2.8% to $75.50.

The Australian dollar rose against the US dollar, also on the back of President Xi’s comments.

At 1630 AEST, the local currency was worth US77.32c, up from US76.92c on Monday.

ON the ASX at 1630 AEST, The All Ordinaries index was up 47 points, or 0.8%, at 5951.7 points.

The SPI200 futures contract was up 46 points, or 0.79%, at 5839.

National turnover was 3.6 billion securities traded, worth $4.9 billion.