Market commentaries
WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares joined an Asiawide rally, led higher by exportfocused growth stocks Pushpay Holdings and A2 Milk, two of the bourse’s most volatile stocks.
The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 40.14, or 0.5%, to 8713.96. Within the index, 24 stocks gained, 15 fell, and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $130.2 million.
Stocks across Asia followed Wall Street higher as investors were buoyed by upbeat comments from White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow that the US could reach a deal with China. The two nations have been embroiled in an 18month trade dispute which has weighed on global economic growth.
Growth stocks have been hit hardest by the trade tensions, coming at the same time as rising US interest rates have dulled the allure of stocks.
Pushpay, which derives most of its income in the US, rose 4.9% to $3.22 on average volumes and extended its recovery from a 12month low last week. A2, which has benefited from strong Chinese demand for its products, gained 3.7% to $10.78.
Stuart Williams, the head of equities at Nikko Asset Management, said investors have underestimated the importance of A2’s supply agreement with stateowned China State Farm as Chinese regulators review ecommerce laws.
A2 has been very volatile, but outperformed the market yesterday, he said.
New Zealand has tried to tread carefully amid tensions between the US and China, given the size of both export markets. Yesterday, the Government Communications Security Bureau rejected Spark New Zealand’s application to use Huawei equipment in building a 5G mobile network. The intelligence agency cited a national security risk over the use of the Chinese vendor.
Spark shares were unchanged at $4.12 in lighter trading than usual of 1.6 million shares. They had been trading at $4.16 before the Huawei announcement.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was the most active stock, with 2.3 million shares traded compared to the 90day average 639,000. The shares fell 1.9% to $13.20. Air New Zealand rose 2.8% to $3.09 on 2.2 million shares, while Fletcher Building increased 0.2% to $4.70 on volume of 2 million shares.
The Australian sharemarket closed slightly lower, dragged down by losses to the major miners after mixed commodity prices overnight.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 3.2 points, or 0.06%, at 5725.1 yesterday. The broader All Ordinaries lost 0.05%.
The 20 largest companies on the indices suffered the most losses, but outside of this the market generally treaded water as investors awaited trade discussions between US President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping, Bell Direct equities analyst Julia Lee said.
The heavyweight resources lost 0.7% sectorwide despite iron ore prices lifting overnight, with copper and gold dipping again
This offset gains to tech, utilities, property and consumer staples.
BHP was down 0.8% to $30.61, Rio Tinto fell 2.2% to $72.00, while BlueScope Steel reversed earlier gains and fell 3.6% to $11.11.
Fortescue Metals, however, bucked the trend and was the standout performer, climbing 2.3% to $3.94.
Energy stocks were flat with Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search both up 0.3%, while Origin and Caltex both lost 0.9%. The Aussie was buying US72.33c at 1630 AEDT from US72.34c on Tuesday. The All Ordinaries was down 2.7 points, or 0.05%, at 5800.1. At 1630 AEDT, the SPI200 futures index was down 10 points, or 0.17%, at 5724. — BusinessDesk/AAP