NZ stocks edge higher as a2 Milk gains
New Zealand shares ticked up, helped by overnight gains on Wall Street and positive trading in Australia. A2 Milk and Synlait Milk rose. The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 37.64 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 8816.42. Within the index, 27 stocks rose, seven were unchanged and 16 fell. Turnover was $130.9 million.
Sentiment got a lift when the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8 per cent and the S&P 500 lifted 0.6 per cent on gains in the broader financial sector. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.9 per cent after the Reserve Bank of Australian kept rates on hold at a record 1.5 per cent.
“It’s been a positive day in reaction to offshore firmness in the markets. We are really following them and we are just clawing back our losses from October,” said Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
A2 Milk lifted 3.5 per cent to $10.50 after falling in recent sessions. Williamson said the lift wasn’t driven by any specific news but by buying interest at these levels.
There seems to be a “pretty significant turnaround” with November seeing buyers come back into the market place, he said.
Synlait rose 2.9 per cent to $8.76. Other companies to garner buying interest included Spark New Zealand, the shares of which rose 2.3 per cent to $4.07. Kathmandu Holdings added 3.2 per cent at $2.90.
Orion Health Group was up 1.8 per cent to $1.16. On Monday, the technology company raised the likely price range for its planned buyback to $1.20 to $1.25 from $1.16 to $1.26, following the completion of the sale of its Rhapsody unit to UK private equity firm Hg for $205m.
Contact Energy added 0.9 per cent to $5.65. Earlier the company said its operating earnings during the past four months are ahead of last year. It generated 3158 GWh of electricity in the four months through October, about 8 per cent more than the year before. Genesis Energy added 0.2 per cent to $2.41. Mercury NZ dipped 0.7 per cent to $3.405 and
Meridian Energy fell 1.4 per cent to $3.115.
Ryman Healthcare fell 3.3 per cent to $12.20 but he said there was no specific driver behind the move. “It’s just a few sellers came back in,” he said. The same was true for
SkyCity Entertainment, which fell 3.4 per cent to $3.72. Z Energy bounced slightly after sharp falls since it rattled investors last Thursday with a 21 per cent drop in first-half earnings and a dividend about five cents less than they were expecting. The stock added 1.9 per cent to $5.28.