Comvita recovers as sharemarket mixed
Not much happening on the bourse at the moment as traders keep their powder dry for reporting season
New Zealand shares were mixed, with Comvita bouncing off Monday’s lows and Z Energy up, while Tegel Group Holdings and Auckland International Airport fell.
The S&P/NZX50 Index dropped 3.68 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 7,064.16. Within the index, 21 stocks rose, 20 fell and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $114.9 million.
“It just seems to be most stocks, in the absence of news, are kind of flat, or every week it’s one’s turn for bargain hunters to think, ‘This looks a bit cheap’, and bid it up,” said James Smalley, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
“Around December 15, that’s when we saw the index move up north of 7000 again, that’s people who may have gone to cash starting to reposition or put that money back in the market.
“Yes, interest rates have bottomed, but they’re not going through the roof, and there’s a bit of an opportunity cost having cash at 2 per cent at the moment. That’s a theme leading up to reporting season.”
Comvita
was the best performer, bouncing 7.5 per cent to $6.99, having dropped 17 per cent on Monday after the manuka honey products maker warned annual earnings will tumble by about two-thirds as the nation’s wet, windy weather saps the honey harvest and with slow sales via China’s informal trading channels.
“It wasn’t like something had occurred to affect product margins permanently, it was just a lack of product,” Smalley said. “The nature of their business is they’re always going to be subject to climatic issues, maybe buyers are looking at longer-term prospects for that sector of the market.”
Vector Arvida Group
rose 2.2 per cent to $3.26 gained 1.5 per while cent to $1.37.
gained 0.8 per cent to $7.50. The company may review its interim distribution policy after reducing debt levels three to four quarters ahead of schedule following its acquisition of Chevron New Zealand’s Caltex and Challenge brands.
“They have reserved the possibility they might use that additional
Z Energy
cash flow on growth options so investors might not see it. It’s positive but the market’s not taking it too much to heart.”
Smalley said there had been a continuation of buying into stocks which have been sold down in the previous few months, such as
which gained 0.8 per cent to $9.01, and which rose 0.9 per cent to $2.965.
was the worst performer, down 2.3 per cent to $1.30, with
& Paykel Healthcare, Tegel Group Holdings Auckland Interna- tional Airport Scales Corp Fisher Infratil,
dropping 1.5 per cent falling 1.2 to $6.75 and per cent to $3.39.
Outside the benchmark index, NXT-listed was unchanged at $2.16. The Aucklandbased company slashed its 2017 revenue forecast as deep discounts on rival honey products undermine sales into China, lowering its revenue target to $2.2m for the year ending March 31 from $5.4m.— BusinessDesk
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