NZ market joins global rally as shares rise
Investors stay cool as US-China trade war rumbles on
New Zealand shares rose as investors shrugged off a slightly gloomier outlook for Synlait Milk and joined a global rally as the latest bout in the US-China trade war wasn’t as harsh as feared.
The S&P/NZX index rose 29.29 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 9,345.06. Within the index 23 stocks gained, 18 fell and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $148.2 million.
Stocks across Asia followed Wall Street higher after US President Donald Trump’s 10 per cent tariff on US$200 billion ($302.9b) of Chinese goods and the subsequent retaliation were more moderate than investors had anticipated.
“The trade shots did not trigger a risk-off mode but acted as a catalyst to positive investor sentiment,” CMC Market analyst Jonathan Chan said. “Risk assets such as equities found support in a robust manner.” The main local news was Synlait
Milk’s near-doubling of annual profit to $74.6m as the milk processor lifted sales of its high-value dairy products. However, the share price fell 6.6 per cent to $11.94 due to chief executive Leon Clement playing down the outlook, saying infant formula sales will probably grow at a slower pace. Rickey Ward, NZ equity manager at JB Were, said the result was pretty good and in line with expectations, but the outlook fell short of what people were hoping for. A2 Milk Co gained 1.1 per cent to $12.27. Heartland Bank rose 1.8 per cent to $1.70. Exporter Comvita led the market higher, up 2.7 per cent to $6.57. Dual-listed banks Westpac
Banking Corp and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group gained 1.9 per cent and 1.1 per cent to $30.99 and 31.50 respectively.
Chorus gained 1 per cent to $5, a record for the network company that was carved out of Telecom in 2011. Spark New Zealand increased 0.5 per cent to $4.08. Arvida Group gained 1.5 per cent to $1.36.
Tourism Holdings extended its decline for another day, falling 2.9 per cent to $5.09. Freightways fell 1.3 per cent to $7.75. New Zealand Refining slipped 0.4 per cent after reporting its second-biggest throughput in July/ August, at a smaller margin than a year earlier. Kathmandu Holdings decreased 1.2 per cent to $3.19.
Push pay Holdings fell 1 per cent to $4.18. Morgan Stanley yesterday emerged as a substantial shareholder with 5.4 per cent. Sky Network Television fell 0.5 per cent to $2.11.