Market commentary
THE dividendyielding stocks came to the fore as the New Zealand sharemarket, spurred by strong offshore bourses, continued to scale new heights — despite the drawnout result in the United States election.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up another 87.04 points or 0.71% to 12,337.02, having gained 2.07% during a strong week. The index is now zooming away from its February 21 all time closing high of 12,073.34.
Many of the 182 stocks on the local market benefited, with 111 gainers and just 29 decliners. On a typical endoftheweek Friday trading day, volume was down slightly at 50.2 million share transactions worth $145.12 million.
The investors chased the dividend stocks, knowing their 4%6% return is better than bank deposit rates which have fallen to less than 1%.
The energy stocks, which pay good dividends, surged ahead. Contact was up 12c to $7.75, Meridian increased 26c or 4.82% to $5.65, Mercury gained 10c to $5.47, and Trustpower climbed 20c or 2.82% to $7.28.
Spark was up 1.5c to $4.625, The Warehouse rose 11c or 4.74% to $2.43, Mainfreight increased 56c to $53.80, Skellerup Holdings picked up 5c to $3.07, and another divvy stock Kiwi Property was up 2c to $1.25.
Retirement village operators also spurted ahead – Summerset Group Holdings rising 13c to $10.50, Ryman Healthcare increasing 20c to $14.70, and Oceania Healthcare gaining 4c or 3.03% to $1.36. Retailer Briscoe Group rose 10c or 2.48% to $4.14.
Chorus' share price rose 13c to $8.64.
The market heavyweights swapped roles — a2 Milk having a good recovery with a rise of 46c or 3.21% to $14.81 on trade worth $13.3 million, and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare falling 79c or 2.14% to $36.11. Pushpay Holdings also recovered ground, increasing 30c or 3.69% to $8.44.
Synlait Milk was one of the biggest movers on the day, rising 39c or 7.63% to $5.50, after announcing it had settled its legal stoush with New Zealand Industrial Park and its owner Karl Ye.
New Zealand Oil and Gas rose 1.5c or 2.16% to 71c. Overnight, United States markets continued to defy predictions if the election was deadlocked, pressing their rally to a fourth day. Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up another 500 points or 2.03% to 28,411.62, S&P 500 gained 2.13% to 3516.72, and Nasdaq Composite rose 2.64% to 11,896.70. Apple and Microsoft rose 3.55% and 3.19% respectively to lead the technology revival. —