Trade Me leads NZ market higher
New Zealand shares rose, joining a regional rally on optimism over USChina trade relations. Fonterra Co-operative Group’s first annual loss dominated local headlines.
The S&P/NZX 50 index gained 53.42 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 9248.99. Within the index, 30 stocks rose, 15 fell and five were unchanged. Turnover was $153.1 million.
Fonterra’s annual result kept local investors busy. The co-operative posted a loss attributable to shareholders of $221m with all business units struggling. The new leadership team is reviewing the entire business and have pledged to reduce debt levels by $800m. The Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund, which gives external investors exposure to the co-operative’s earnings, rose 0.8 per cent to $5.01.
“A lot of the coverage has been fairly negative and it’s a bit of a miss in terms of the forecast it was indicating,” said Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
“Shareholders’ Fund investors just go along for the ride — you’ve got no voting rights and you’re really putting faith in your directors and the farm gate manual.”
He said a2 Milk Co and Synlait Milk have been cleaner investment opportunities for investors.
Over the past year, Fonterra fund units have dropped 18 per cent, whereas a2 shares have climbed 101 per cent and Synlait are up 165 per cent. A2 slipped 0.3 per cent yesterday to $12.06, while Synlait rose 1.5 per cent to $13.20.
Contact Energy rose 0.4 per cent to $5.73. Monthly operating stats showed the country’s second-largest power and gas retailer lost the most customers in one month for seven years, falling to 410,500.
Mercury NZ slipped 0.2 per cent to $3.285, Meridian Energy rose 1.6 per cent to $3.28 and Genesis Energy fell 0.6 per cent to $2.49.
Trade Me led the market higher, up 3.8 per cent to $5.17. Kathmandu Holdings rose 1.9 per cent to $3.16 ahead of next week’s annual result. Tourism Holdings posted the biggest fall, down 2.3 per cent to $5.52.
Among blue-chip companies, Fletcher Building rose 1.3 per cent to $6.32, Port of Tauranga gained 1.2 per cent to $5.13, Auckland International Airport increased 1 per cent to $6.99 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare advanced 1 per cent to $15.25. Air New Zealand increased 0.2 per cent to $3.165 and Spark New Zealand rose 0.4 per cent to $4.035.
Several companies shed rights to dividend payments yesterday. Precinct Property New Zealand fell 2c to $1.44 after shedding rights to a 1.45c per share dividend. Metlifecare declined 3c to $6.29 after shedding rights to a 6.75cps dividend, and
Freightways fell 8c to $7.80 after giving up rights to a 15.25cps dividend. Stride Property Group fell 1c to $1.95, shedding rights to a 2.2cps dividend.
Outside the benchmark index,
Methven fell 1c to $1.18 after shedding rights to a 4cps dividend, Seeka was unchanged at $6.10 giving up a 12cps dividend, and TIL Logistics slipped 2c to $1.66 after shedding a 2.3cps dividend.