Market commentaries

AUCKLAND: New Zealand shares rose in heavy trading as Kiwi Property Group and Kathmandu Holdings gained on strong volumes, with the quarterly index reweighting driving traffic.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 28.34 points, or 0.3%, to 10,829.39. Within the index, 34 stocks rose, 11 fell, and five were unchanged. Turnover was $282.9 million, with 17 stocks trading on volumes of more than a million shares.

The benchmark index ended the week marginally lower, down 0.3%, as investors weighed up the impacts of geopolitical uncertainty, ranging from a spike in oil prices to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook.

Domestically, the economy grew at a faster clip than economists expected, but the Reserve Bank is still expected to cut the official cash rate below 1%.

Trading was extended yesterday to cater to the typically heavy volumes that come in the quarterly rebalancing of the S&P/NZX and FTSE Russell indices.

Kiwi Property was the mosttraded stock on a volume of 5.9 million shares, more than three times its 90day average of 1.8 million. It rose 2.2% to $1.65.

Kathmandu rose for a sixth day, up 3.7% at $3.10. Almost 4.9 million shares changed hands, about 24 times its 200,000 average.

Spark New Zealand posted the day’s biggest decline, down 2.9% at $4.35 on a volume of 4.9 million shares. T It shed rights to its dividend on Thursday. Fletcher Building rose 2% to $5.09 on a volume of 4.6 million shares.

Among stocks trading on volumes of more than three million shares, Meridian Energy fell 1.1% to $5.115 and Stride Property was unchanged at $2.28.

Auckland International Airport was up 0.9% at $9.13 and A2 Milk snapped a threeday decline, up 1.2% at $13.52.

Goodman Property Trust rose 0.2% to $2.165 on a volume of 2 million units. It raised $150 million at $2.10 per unit in a placement earlier this week.

Z Energy rose 0.9% to $5.55 on a volume of 2.3 million shares. The fuel retailer shed as much as 19% during the course of a week after it issued a profit warning on unprecedented discounting by its rivals and as investors weighed up the impact on fuel prices of recent attacks on Saudi Arabian processing facilities.

Mercury NZ fell 1.8% to $5.09, Contact Energy decreased 0.1 percent to $8.31, Infratil rose 1.1% to $4.95, Air New Zealand rose 0.8% to $2.70, Sky Network Television was up 0.9% at $1.14, Precinct Properties New Zealand fell 0.6% to $1.805, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare increased 0.5% to $17.05.

Synlait Milk led the index higher, up 4.1% at $9.48 on a volume of 64,000 shares.

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units fell 0.9% to $3.17. Fonterra said its board was considering its succession strategy, with director Simon Israel leaving this year and chairman John Monaghan scheduled to retire next year.

A The Australian sharemarket gave up most of its early gains, but still managed to close higher for a 10th day in the past 12 sessions.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up just 13.3 points, or 0.2%, to 6730.8 points.

The broader All Ordinaries was up 13.8 points, or 0.2%, to 6839 points.

Most sectors were up save for industrials, telecoms, utilities and property trusts.

Mining stocks showed the biggest gains, up 0.5%. — BusinessDesk/AAP