Summerset, Metlifecare lead broad rise

Investors gaining confidence as spectre of interest rate rise retreats and reporting season draws near

New Zealand shares rose broadly, with the market led by continued gains from Summerset Holdings and Metlifecare, while smaller stock Pushpay Holdings kept heading higher.

The S&P/NZX50 Index rose 49.8 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 7699.57.

Within the index, 34 stocks rose, nine were unchanged and seven fell. Turnover was $137 million. “Our market is having a pretty good day, and it’s continuing to be led by a reasonably sustained bounceback in property related stocks,” said James Smalley, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

“Now interest rate rises may not be happening as soon as the market might have anticipated, and as we get closer to reporting and no adverse reports come out, investors will get more and more confident.”

Retirement village stocks such as Summerset Holdings and Metlifecare led the index. Summerset closed up 2.3 per cent at $4.96 and Metlifecare gained 2 per cent to $5.69.

“Those stocks had been under a bit of pressure since April, they have been great performers but the first signs of a slowdown in the Auckland property market hurt sentiment and they had a double whammy from the listing of Oceania Healthcare and Infratil selling out of its stake in Metlifecare within a week of each other,” Smalley said.

“You had a hell of a lot of supply within a very small space of time, in a very select sector that had done very well, so people took the opportunity from Oceania and sold other parts of their holdings in the aged healthcare sector,” he said.

The glut of supply in those stocks has now finished, and investors may be looking to shore up their stakes ahead of August’s reporting season, Smalley said. Investore Property gained 2.2 per cent to $1.38. Sky Network Television rose 2 per cent to $3.61 and Freightways advanced 1.9 per cent to $7.88.

NZX was the worst performer, down 1.7 per cent to $1.17, giving up some of last week’s gains which saw it hit a 2.5-year high.

Chorus dropped 1.2 per cent to $4.365.

“It had held up around $4.70, it always seems to hit that level then come in for a bit of sustained profit taking,” Smalley said.

Outside the benchmark index, Pushpay continued last week’s gains following its successful capital raising, up 6.1 per cent to $1.92.

“Investors might think it seems a little bit strange given the placement was at $1.51, but what it did was remove uncertainty for the company regarding any cash requirements going forward,” Smalley said.

“Their ability to raise money in a short space of time showed good investor demand.”