Market commentary
AUCKLAND: Fisher and Paykel joined a sharp rally in technology and healthcare stocks offshore as sharemarkets quickly became accustomed to the makeup of a new United States government.
The markets centred on control of the Senate rather than the prospect of Joe Biden becoming the 46th US president. The S&P/NZX 50 Index gained 50.04 points or 0.41% to 12,249.98, and there were 78 gainers and 60 decliners.
Volume surged to 68.88 million shares worth $258.97 million in late trading as the passive investment funds shifted their portfolio weightings, with New Zealand stocks coming out of the Wisdom Tree International Equity index.
It looks like the Republicans have kept control of the Senate and the Democrats maintain the majority in the House of Representatives, dimming the prospects for tax increases and tighter regulations on businesses under Mr Biden.
Mark Lister, head of private wealth research for Craigs Investment Partners, said a divided Congress would be good for financial markets.
‘‘It means we won’t see dramatic change, which lessens the uncertainty of major policy shifts. We probably won’t see the significant, debtfuelled fiscal support that the Democrats were hoping for.’’
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare climbed 90c or 2.5% to $36.90 on trade worth $25.5 million.
‘‘Technology and healthcare stocks rose sharply overnight in the US, while value and cyclical stocks fell,’’ said Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management.
Facebook jumped 8.32% to $US287.38 ($NZ429.04), Alphabet (Google) was up 6.09% to $US1745.85, Amazon gained 6.32% to $US3241.16, Microsoft increased 4.82% to $US216.39 and Apple was up 4.08% to $US114.95 as the technologydriven Nasdaq Composite climbed 3.85% to 11,590.78 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 360 points or 1.34% to 27,480.03.
Some value stocks here had good days, a2 Milk rising 15c to $14.35, Skellerup Holdings increasing 6c or 2.03% to $3.02, while technology firm Serko was up 10c or 2.04% to $5.
Synlait Milk rose 6c to $5.11 after signing a manufacturing supply agreement from mid2022 with an unnamed global dairy products leader. Synlait will spend $70 million over two years at its two Auckland processing plants to supply nutrition products.
‘‘It’s important for them to sign up new customers as they have plants sitting there with plenty of capacity,’’ Mr Goodson said.
Tourism Holdings had a revival, climbing 11c or 5.02% to $2.30, and software company Gentrack jumped 13c or 10.92% to $1.32.
Among the decliners were Pushpay Holdings, losing 26c or 3.10% to $8.14; Meridian Energy, down 14c or 2.53% to $5.39; Vector decreasing 9c or 2.14% to $4.12; Port of Tauranga, declining 9c to $6.99; Auckland International Airport, down 7c to $7.08; and Mainfreight falling 26c to $53.24.
Fishing company Sanford plunged 42c or 7.87% to $4.92 after reporting a 46% fall in net profit to $22.4 million for the year ending September. Revenue was down 14% to $468.8 million in its preliminary result, and the company said fourth quarter profitability was hit by lowerthanexpected wildcatch and toothfish catch performances. Salmon prices are also falling.
Trustpower’s revenue slipped 6% to $506.27 million and its net profit was down 13% to $33.61 million for the six months ending September, while its operating earnings were up 3% to $110.4 million.
It is paying an interim dividend of 17c a share on December 4 and its share price edged ahead 3c to $7.08. Trustpower is expecting 2021 operating earnings in the range of $185 million$205 million, after reporting $110.4 million in the first half. —