Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares rose in light trading, led higher by Comvita and Fletcher Building, while PGG Wrightson jumped to a twomonth high.

The S&P/NZX50 Index gained 38.61 points, or 0.4%, to 8903.13. Within the index, 25 stocks rose, 13 were unchanged and 12 fell. Turnover was $65.5 million.

‘‘With part of the Australian market off with a New South Wales holiday, it has seen a few participants out of the market . . . we had a strong lead off the US and European markets, the Asian markets seem to have shrugged off further concerns about tariff increases and Australia and New Zealand are up,’’ Shane Solly, director, portfolio manager and research analyst at Harbour Asset Management, said.

‘‘We are in a hiatus preresults, there’s a lot of people thinking about where there’s risk in the results season and that is slowing people up from making their decisions,’’ Mr Solly said.

‘‘The market has had a very strong run, so we need a good solid results season to keep it kicking along.’’

Comvita was the best performer, up 1.8% to $5.70. Fletcher Building gained 1.6% to $7.04. a2 Milk Co rose 1.3% to $10.56, which Mr Solly said was due to a positive research note on the stock released in the morning.

Air New Zealand rose 1.2% to $3.34 and Chorus gained 1.2% to $4.33.

Tourism Holdings was the worst performer, down 1.3% to $6.03.

NZX dropped 0.9% to $1.08. The stock market operator said trading activity was busier in July from a year earlier, although with smaller values changing hands. Total trades jumped 70% to 258,063 in July, average daily trades were at 11,730, although the total value traded was down 24% to $2.62 billion, or a daily average of $119 million.

Outside the benchmark index, PGG Wrightson rose 7.8% to 69c, the highest it has closed since June 13. The country’s largest rural services business said it had agreed to sell its seed and grain business to Danish cooperative DLF Seeds for $421 million in cash and $18 million of debt repayment, and signalled it may return up to $292 million to its shareholders.

A Australian shares rose yesterday, as strong iron ore prices in China helped material stocks while investors were largely focused on earnings due later in the week.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index ended the day up 38.2 points, or 0.61%, at 6,273.0 points, while the All Ordinaries was up 32.6 points, or 0.52%, at 6,359.0 points.

The mosttraded September iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange climbed as much as 6.5% to its loftiest since March 9 supported by strong margins at China’s steel producers as Beijing’s antipollution fight tightens supply.

The bounce in commodities fed into Australia’s material plays, said Christopher Conway, head of research and trading at Australian Stock Report.

The gains also come despite wider concerns about global trade after a fresh escalation in the SinoUS trade war.

However, investor focus is likely to shift to companies’ earnings announcements this week, Mr Conway said.

Mining stocks were the main driver for gains. BHP added 2.2% to $34.10 and Rio Tinto was 0.6% higher at $77.02.

Lithium play Galaxy Resources lifted 3.3% to $2.84, after it said its deal to sell some Argentine assets to South Korea’s POSCO for $US280 million was ahead of schedule.

Banks gained ground as the financial services royal commission resumed hearings — this time on the superannuation sector. Commonwealth Bank adding 1% to $73.56.

Australia’s largest lender is due to report fullyear results tomorrow.

Wealth manager AMP is also due to report halfyear results tomorrow and its shares fell 1.4% to $3.45 yesterday.

In companies news, online jobs giant Seek slumped $1.92, or 8.8%, to a threemonth low of $20.00 after flagging slower revenue growth in 201819 and impairments on its Brazil and Mexico operations. — BusinessDesk/AAP