NZ shares on track for big annual gain
THL surges while Sky TV has sunny day
New Zealand shares rose in subdued holiday trading yesterday, keeping the S&P/ NZX 50 Index on track for an annual gain of about 22 per cent, as US tax cuts lifted sentiment for equities and for companies that do business in the US, such as Tourism Holdings.
The S&P/NZX 50 index gained 32.1 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 8408.53. Within the index, 31 stocks rose, 14 fell, and five were unchanged. Turnover was a lighter-than-normal $54 million.
gained 3.3 per cent to $5.96. The shares of the campervan rentals company have climbed more than 8 percent since it said tax reform in the US will boost annual profit by between $2.3 million and $3m based on the current distribution of its earnings across US states, current state tax rates, and exchange rates. The rental motorhome operator anticipates its total effective tax rate in the US will fall to about 27 per cent from 40 per cent.
Tourism Holdings
“Tourism Holdings is one of the few that’s said the tax reforms are likely to be positive for them,” said Chris Timms, an adviser at Craigs Investment Partners.
“That’s why we’ve seen them rise — plus a tourism sector that’s still pretty buoyant.”
Timms said with trading volumes light, the direction of the market can be fickle “but the general feeling is still reasonably positive”.
News for US markets “is reasonably healthy, particularly with the tax changes”. Institutions are reasonably settled heading into what is the quarter-end and the end of the financial year, he said.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare,
which gets much of its sales in the US and in US dollars, rose 0.6 per cent to $14.23. gained 2.1 per cent to $7.30.
Restaurant Brands Sky Network Television,
the payTV company, gained about 4 per cent to $2.89, leading the index higher. The stock has tumbled 39 per cent this year as its market becomes inundated with streaming video rivals.
Among retirement village oper-
Summerset Group Healthcare
ators cent to $5.60 and Ryman gained 0.2 per cent to $10.57. rose 1.8 per
SkyCity Entertainment Group
near a four-year high, gold was around a one-month high and oil prices remained firm. The Australian dollar hovered around a two-month high at US77.82c. The kiwi fell to A90.89c from A91.03c late Wednesday. With very little data on the immediate horizon at home or abroad, Shirley said trading will
Energy Chorus Genesis
rose 1.7 per cent to $4.13 and rose 1.2 per cent to $4.21.
rose 2.9 per cent to $2.53. remain very light until year end. The local dollar rose to 80.05 yen from 79.78 yen and rose to 4.6289 yuan from 4.6180 yuan. It was little changed at €59.39c from
59.38c and rose to 52.72 British pence from 52.67p. The 10-year swaps eased three basis points to 3.14 per cent.