Spark share price rises but Kathmandu falls as investors wait for outdoor equipment firm’s half-year result
New Zealand shares were mixed, with the benchmark index rising but more stocks in decline. Spark led gainers while Kathmandu fell ahead of the release of the retailer’s first-half earnings today.
The NZX 50 Index rose 3.85 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 5875.23. Within the index, 18 stocks rose, 21 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $176 million, of which $69 million was Spark and Fletcher Building alone.
Spark rose 2.8 per cent to $3.155 ahead of shedding its 9c a share interim dividend on March 25. The shares may also have rebounded from a sell-off last week, when a global portfolio manager was reportedly tweaking its holdings. Volumes also jumped last week amid global index changes.
Kathmandu, the outdoor equipment chain, fell 4.7 per cent to $1.61. The company, which counts Australia as its biggest market, warned in early February that it was expecting a first-half loss of $1 million to $2 million after Christmas and January trading lagged behind expectations.
“It’s more of an Australian stock than a New Zealand stock from an investor’s perspective,” said Nigel Scott, a director at Craigs Investment Partners. “People have positioned themselves. Growth managers have probably exited the story and others are waiting to see what the company’s coming up with [today].”
Scott said New Zealand investors were typically underweight in retail stocks.
The strength of the Kiwi dollar against the Australian dollar, to reach a post-float high yesterday, “makes Australian earnings brought back to New Zealand a bit ordinary”, Scott said.
Fletcher Building, which counts Australia as its second-largest market, fell 0.9 per cent to $8.85. A2 Milk, which makes most of its sales in Australia, fell about 2 per cent to 50c.
Sky Network Television fell 0.9 per cent to $5.85 ahead of the launch today of a local service of Nasdaqlisted Netflix, with a rival content service that starts at just $9.99 a month. Goodman Property Trust rose 2.2 per cent to $1.18, leading gains among some property investors. DNZ Property Fund rose 1.1 per cent to $1.92 and Property for Industry rose 0.6 per cent to $1.61.
“You’re still looking for yield opportunities — global interest rates are easing apart from the US,” Scott said.
Meridian Energy fell 0.7 per cent to $2.075 ahead of the second payment on the partly paid instalment receipts of 50c due in May.
SkyCity Entertainment Group declined about 2 per cent to $3.98 and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund, whose units are entitled to the dividends on the dairy giant’s ordinary shares, rose 1.9 per cent to $6 ahead of the company’s first-half results tomorrow.