Market commentary

WELLINGTON: The a2 Milk Company took another spurt, supported by retirement village stocks, as the New Zealand sharemarket had another resilient day yesterday amid international economic uncertainty.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index recovered well in the afternoon after an early fall, gaining 18.42 points or 0.16% to 11,628.25. The index reached an intraday low of 11,556.78 points.

There were 61 gainers and 72 decliners on the main board, and trading was again light with 26.5 million shares transactions worth $97.59 million.

‘‘We’ve had a noisy period of reporting, both in New Zealand and the United States. Now, there is a void of company notices and macroeconomics is influencing the markets, which are nervous,’’ Harbour Asset Management portfolio manager Shane Solly said.

Solly said the bond market, as defined by the Bloomberg globalaggregate total return index, was technically in a bear market with the value of bonds for investors having fallen more than 20% in the past year.

The US 10 Year Treasury Note yield was down 12.7 basis points to 3.261% after hitting 3.47% in midJune — and investors were buying them at 1.28% in early August last year. The New Zealand 10 Year Government Bond yield slipped 7.8 basis points to 3.959%.

A more confident a2 Milk found renewed buying support, gaining 11c or 1.74% to $6.45 with 2.13 million shares worth $13.76m changing hands.

Retirement village operators Summerset Group Holdings rose 28c or 2.59% to $11.11 and Oceania Healthcare gained 3c or 3.09% to $1. Ryman Healthcare was down 6c to $9.05.

Mr Solly said the demand was still strong in the sector. Infratil and Mercury had strong days, rising 21.5c or 2.38% to $9.23 and 16c or 2.74% to $6.01 respectively. Meridian was up 1c to $4.98, and Genesis was down 4c to $2.93.

Briscoe Group was up 8c to $5.28; Napier Port increased 4c to $3.02; PGG Wrightson gained 10c or 2.18% to $4.68; and Winton Land was up 6c or 2.29% to $2.68.

Ampol recovered from Thursday’s Australian marketsell off by rising $1.343 or 3.7% to $37.60. ANZ was up 20c to $25.50, and Westpac increased 30c to $24.10.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 16c to $19.79; Chorus declined 6.5c to $7.895; Mainfreight decreased 55c to $74.30; and Restaurant Brands shed 10c to $8.05.

Hallenstein Glasson was down 7c to $5.25, Scott Technology declined 10c to $2.81 and NZME fell 5c to $1.24. —