Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares gained in light trading yesterday, led higher by Pushpay Holdings and Synlait Milk.

The S&P/NZX50 Index rose 63.68 points, or 0.7%, to 8996.16. Within the index, 25 stocks rose, 17 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $87.5 million.

‘‘We’re faring quite well, considering overnight leads in the US were weak, particularly in the technology sector with Facebook being slammed after what on the surface seemed a reasonable result but just didn’t meet market expectation at all,’’ investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners Peter McIntyre said.

‘‘Down under, we’re travelling OK, and we have been relatively solid on really light volume. All eyes will be on US GDP overnight, which is expected to be strong and that will drive markets.’’

Pushpay led the index higher, rising 4.1% to $4.10. The company said on Thursday it had nothing to disclose in response to a share price inquiry by the NZX, which queried the stock falling 10.1% between July 18 and 25. It’s now up 5.4% from that low.

‘‘Even though they’re in the NZX50 it can be quite an illiquid stock, so it’s not surprising they’re seeing big bounces to the upside and the downside,’’ Mr McIntyre said.

Synlait Milk rose 3.5% to $11.17, Sky Network Television gained 2.6% to $2.72 and Z Energy advanced 2.5% to $7.28.

The NZX gained 0.9% to $1.11. It has sold its Australian grain data business to Rural Bank for an undisclosed figure, and will close its Melbourne office.

Tourism Holdings was the worst performer, down 1% at $6.24. The New Zealand Refining Co fell 0.8% to $2.43. Mainfreight dropped 0.8% to $27.98.

‘‘They had a pretty upbeat AGM yesterday. They did say parts of their business were relatively sluggish but in the main it was positive — again, that stock has moved on really light volume,’’ Mr McIntyre said.

The Fonterra Shareholders Fund was unchanged at $5.16. Fonterra Cooperative chairman John Wilson has stood down from the role heading the country’s largest dairy processor with immediate effect as he recovers from a ‘‘serious health scare’’.

Outside the benchmark index, Evolve Education rose 3.2% to 64 cents. There is speculation the business is being targeted for takeover by Australia’s Affinity Education Group.

The Australian sharemarket closed stronger yesterday, with gains almost across the board and miners buoyed by BHP’s deal to sell its troublesome US shaleoil assets.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 55.7 points, or 0.89%, at 6300.2 points, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 53.9 points, or 0.85%, to 6391.5 points.

For the week the benchmark index has gained 14 points and, to date, has lifted 1.7% during July.

The share market is on track to record four consecutive months of gains, the longest run since 2013.

Nearly a year after putting its US shale assets up for sale and after months of market anticipation, BHP announced yesterday it had secured a sale.

BHP shares gained A76 cents (NZ82.8c), or 2.3%, to close at $A34.40, underscoring the deal’s betterthanexpected sale price and expectations of a lucrative share buyback.

Bell Direct equities analyst Julia Lee said the sale of the US energy assets was a surprise for shareholders.

‘‘It [the sale] was sooner than expected, which was nice to see,’’ she said.

‘‘And secondly, the price which was higher than expected, so shareholders would have been pretty happy.’’

But the bad news continued for AMP as the firm warned its firsthalf underlying profit would drop by as much as 11% and it set aside about $A290 million to refund and compensate customers it overcharged for financial advice. Shares in the firm slumped 18 points, or 5.2%, to $A3.30. Despite this, the financial sector lifted 1%, helped by solid gains for the big four banks.

ANZ rose 1.6% to $A29.48 and National Australia Bank gained 1% to $A28.40, while Westpac closed 1.1% higher at $A29.47 and Commonwealth Bank gained 0.7% to $A75.36.

Oil stocks climbed after Saudi Arabia’s stateowned oil company announced on Thursday it was temporarily halting crude shipments through the Red Sea, causing a spike in global oil prices. — BusinessDesk/AAP