Chorus rebounds while Tower tumbles
Orion Health and Air NZ also recoup losses on ‘dull day’ for local sharemarket
New Zealand shares rose, with Chorus, Orion Health Group and Air New Zealand recovering losses, while Tower resumed its fall. The S&P/NZX 50 Index gained 37.53 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7290.45. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 15 fell and 13 were unchanged. Turnover was $119.6 million.
Daniel Metcalfe, a senior investment advisor at OMF, said it was a “dull day” without much news from NZX 50 participants. Markets overnight had been focused on the first US presidential debate and Wall St rallied afterwards with the perception Hillary Clinton had won bolstering confidence in equities.
Markets across Asia were generally lower in the afternoon’s trading, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 1.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng falling 0.7 per cent, and Australia’s S&P/ ASX200 Index 0.1 per cent lower.
was the best performer on the local index, up 2.7 per cent to $3.88. It has rebounded this week, up 4 per cent, having fallen 19 per cent since it announced its full-year results on August 29. The telecommunications network operator said at the time that lower regulated pricing for access to its copper services was responsible for full-year profit stalling, although it sees a resumption of growth in 2017.
Orion Health Group
gained 1.8 per cent to $3.35, bouncing back from Tuesday when it was the worst performer on the index and fell 4.6 per cent.
Air New Zealand
gained 1.4 per cent to $1.875. The airline’s annual shareholders’ meeting will be held tomorrow afternoon in Christchurch. It hit a 22-month low on Monday and has fallen 30 per cent this year, as rising oil prices and increasing competition on its domestic and interna- tional routes have worried investors.
Auckland International Airport
rose 0.4 per cent, or 3c, to $7.13. It gave up the rights to a 9c final dividend, payable on October 13.
Tegel Group Holdings
was the worst performer, down 3.7 per cent to $1.55.
Tower
Earlier dropped 1.5 per cent to 96c. this month, the insurer’s shares hit a then-12-year low of $1.11 after it warned it expected a $16.2 million hit to its after-tax profit because of increased claims provisions for the Canterbury earthquake following greater-than-expected new claims from the Earthquake Commission and increased litigation and customer disputes The shares have plunged 48.7 per cent this year.
Education Group OceanaGold Intueri
Outside the main index,
recovered, up 66.7 per cent to 10c. The private education group’s shares collapsed on Tuesday, slumping 80 per cent in response to a warning about Australian government audits that threatened its viability. Yesterday afternoon, it told investors it retained the support of its lender, ANZ Bank.
Intueri has until October 21 to respond to the audit, with possible outcomes ranging from a directive to correct areas of non-compliance through to the full cancellation of its Australian business registrations as registered training organisations. One of the businesses, OCA, accounted for 35 per cent of Intueri’s $50.1m revenue in the six months ended June 30.
dropped 13.2 per cent to $4.13. The company said it was seeking clarification from the Philippines Government after officials from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources named its Didipio site among mining operations that could be suspended because of outstanding social issues.