ASX acceptance boosts Chorus shares

Network operator leads market higher, rising 3.2 per cent on news stock will join key Australian index

New Zealand shares rose ahead of today’s Anzac Day holiday. Chorus led the advance on news it will be added to the S&P/ASX 200 Index and Fletcher Building extended its gains after touching a 12-month low last week.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index gained 25.73 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 7222.94. Within the index, 29 stocks gained, 10 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $105 million.

rose 3.2 per cent to $4.345. Its shares will join the ASX 200 on May 2, bringing to eight the number of New Zealand companies with a

Chorus

primary listing on the NZX that are also on the Australian index and putting the stock on the radar of fund managers who use the index as a benchmark.

The gain in Chorus “will be on the back of a number of funds having to reweight accordingly”, said Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

Fletcher Building

rose 1.3 per cent to $8.01. The shares fell as low as $7.77 last week — the lowest since April 12, 2016.

Fletcher Building has shed a quarter of its market value this year after the company said complications with two major construction projects meant it would not meet full-year guidance.

shares fell 3.2 per cent to 61c following Friday’s special meeting of shareholders that voted against a deal with Kiwi Property Group and instead opted to oust chairman Tony Sewell and Jim Sherwin from the board.

They voted to install Augusta chairman Paul Duffy, and independent directors Allen Bollard and Bruce Cotterill. was unchanged yesterday at $1.41.

“That’s put a bit of pressure on the share price,” Williamson said.

NPT Kiwi Property Vital Healthcare Property Trust Metro

rose 1.9 per cent to $2.20 and gained 1.6 per

Performance Glass

cent to $1.28. Group rose 1.6 per cent rose

Trade Me Tourism Holdings

to $5.20 and 1.4 per cent to $3.70.

was the biggest decliner on the benchmark index, falling 0.7 per cent to $2.075.

was unchanged at $2 after the company said its annual loss widened in the 2017 financial year as a boost to investment in the US and changes to the way it amortised development costs weighed on the bottom line, even as sales

Genesis Energy ERoad

continued to grow.

Gentrack Group

rose 0.5 per cent to $4.40 after the utilities software developer said it would pay 41m Danish krone, or $8.4m, for 79.8 per cent of Denmark-based Blip Systems and 7.5m, or $11.4m, for 75 per cent of Malta-based CA Plus, as part of a strategy to double earnings from its airport software business by 2019. The acquisitions have three-year earn-out agreements for the remaining stakes.

“It has been one of the better software/IT companies to come out of the woodwork in recent times,” Williamson said.