Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares rose for a second day as a2 Milk reached a record following its strong earnings yesterday and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare shares jumped on the end of a costly, longrunning patent dispute.

The S&P/NZX 50 index climbed 51.37 points, or 0.6%, to 9300.81. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 22 fell, and six were unchanged. Turnover was $177.5 million.

F&P Health led the market higher, rising 6.8% to $14.29 on volume of 1.4 million shares, more than twice its average. The breathing mask maker settled a longrunning dispute with rival ResMed across the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, having racked up millions of dollars in legal fees in the process. Both parties have now decided to settle with no payment or admission of liability.

‘‘Just the lawyers won with that particular battle — now sanity has prevailed, which is good,’’ Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said.

A2 rose as high as $14.85, a record, and ended the session up 4.2% at $14.82. Volume was bigger than usual at 2 million shares.

The milk marketing firm beat earnings expectations yesterday and has resumed its place as the biggest listed company on the NZX, with a market capitalisation of almost $10.9 billion.

Mr Davies said several brokers upgraded their target prices for a2 after the result, although the revisions largely reflected the share price.

Meridian Energy, the secondbiggest listed company, rose 1.4% to $3.63 on an average volume of 1.3 million shares. The electricity generator reported record earnings on Wednesday, although some investors were unnerved by weakness at Meridian’s Australian arm.

Auckland International Airport, the thirdbiggest listed company, increased 0.1% to $7.35, with 1.8 million shares changing hands, almost twice its average volume. The airport operator reports earnings today and is expected to respond to the Commerce Commission’s concerns that it plans to overcharge customers for its major upgrade.

Pushpay climbed 4.3% to $3.43 on a smaller volume than usual of 161,000 shares. Vista Group International increased 0.5% to $3.94, with 1.5 million shares traded, more than seven times its 90day average of 210,000.

Spark New Zealand was the most traded stock with 9.4 million shares changing hands, compared to its 3.9 million 90day average. The stock fell 3.7% to $3.75, extending Wednesday’s decline. The company reported increased underlying earnings yesterday as costcutting helped widen margins. Net profit fell without a dividend from Southern Cross.

Sky Network Television fell 2.4% to $1.64, a record low, on a volume of 591,000. The payTV operator posted yet another slump in firsthalf earnings yesterday, as it continues to shed customers and faces new competition in premium sports from Spark.

Fletcher Building fell 1.6% to $4.90 on a volume of 3.2 million. Of other companies trading on volumes of more than a million shares, Heartland Group rose 1.5% to $1.37, Air New Zealand fell 1.5% to $2.61, Z Energy increased 1.8% to $6.09, and Precinct Properties New Zealand decreased 0.3% to $1.48.

Outside the benchmark index, TeamTalk rose 3.8% to 82c after affirming annual earnings will be in line with the $4.4 million reported a year earlier. Dividends will also be back on the table at the end of the June financial year.

NZME was unchanged at 48.5c. Rival Stuff posted a 23% slide in firsthalf earnings, outpacing a decline in revenue, and owner Nine Entertainment Co is looking to sell the New Zealand news group.

Of firms reporting today, New Zealand Refining was unchanged at $2.26, Summerset fell 1% to $6.28, Cavalier was unchanged at 51c, Delegat Group rose 0.4% to $9.55, and Michael Hill International was unchanged at 56c.

A Australian shares rebounded from a choppy morning to close higher, supported by the big banks and discretionary consumer stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished up 42.7 points, or 0.7%, at 6139.2 points, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 38.8 points, or 0.63%, at 6214.6.

The big four banks were all up, led by Commonwealth at 2.01%. ANZ was up 1.83%, Westpac up 1.32%, and NAB up 0.69%.

Strong earnings results from Wesfarmers, Star Entertainment Group and Webjet also pushed the consumer discretionary sector up 3.91%.

Wesfarmers shot up 6.88% after it said it would give $1 billion of the $3 billion it raised from its Coles demerger back to shareholders in a special dividend. — BusinessDesk/AAP