Market commentary
WELLINGTON: The New Zealand sharemarket picked itself up from a sharp fall with an afternoon rally yesterday — and Auckland International Airport led the way after holding its annual meeting.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed down 25.31 points, or 0.2%, to 12,407.29, after earlier falling nearly 1% to an intraday low of 12,356.02. Trading was solid with 76.57 million shares worth $203.49 million changing hands.
There were 49 gainers and 87 decliners over the whole market, which has increased to 183 stocks with the debut listing of medicinal cannabis firm Rua Bioscience.
Senior portfolio manager with Fisher Funds Sam Dickie said the market had a decent rally as the heavyweights rebounded from their lows.
‘‘I suspect people were in there buying their favourite companies such as Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and a2 Milk.’’
Auckland International Airport climbed 16c, or 2.22%, to $7.38 on trade worth $13.27 million. Shareholders at the annual meeting were told its directors expected a full recovery to take longer than three years but were hopeful that domestic travel would return to normal within two years. The airport is planning capital expenditure of $250 million$300 million in the current financial year, and it continues to receive inquiries for new property developments.
Mr Dickie said Auckland Airport remained cautious with its commentary but ‘‘what astounds me is they are making a positive $10 million a month of operating earnings (ebitdaf) despite the border being effectively closed and domestic travel is reduced. They have reduced their cost base and capex, and they are not far away from being free cash flow even.’’
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare recovered to $35.80 on trade worth $37.9 million, down 60c for the day after falling as low as $35.50, and a2 Milk settled at $15.45 on trade worth $22.37 million, down 1c after reaching $15.21.
The leading energy stocks continued to snap back recent gains. Contact was down 6c to $7.64, Meridian fell 7.5c to $5.34 and Mercury lost 5c to $5.16. Chorus declined 18c, or 2.11%, to $8.34 and Port of Tauranga fell 4c to $7.62.
Mainfreight went up 21c to $54.71, Z Energy continued to flourish by rising 6c, or 2.05%, to $2.99, Briscoe Group gained 7c to $4.08 and utilities investor Infratil found renewed life, climbing 9c to $5.49 after holding an investors’ day.
Mr Dickie said a raft of brokers had updated Infratil’s net asset value because of its investment in ‘‘monster rock star’’ Canberra Data Centres, which was a phenomenal asset and was making a lot of money.
Restaurant Brands climbed 23c, or 2%, to $12.23 after reporting improved sales. For the three months ended September, total sales increased 12.8% to $239.8 million from the previous corresponding period.
The new kid on the block, East Coastbased Rua Bioscience, founded in 2017, had a strong market debut, rising 18c, or 36%, to 68c, after listing at 50c following a $20 million capital raise.
There was plenty of ‘‘stagging’’ in the stock, with 8.6 million shares worth $6 million being traded. Rua Bioscience’s substantial shareholders are Fang Group Investments with 16.84% and Hikurangi Bioactives with 16.77%.
NZX was up 5c, or 2.91%, to $1.77 after earlier announcing it had been selected to develop and operate the managed auction service for the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme in partnership with the European Energy Exchange.
Trading in Metlifecare shares is suspended today as Asia Pacific Village Group, backed by Swedish equity firm EQT, completes its $1.27 billion, or $6 a share, takeover. Metlifecare will delist from the NZX and Australian ASX exchanges on November 3. —