Shares join Asian rally as trade fears ease

F&P among leaders as Wall St talks up China opportunities

New Zealand shares joined a rally across Asia as easing trade tensions between the US and China helped buoy investor sentiment. Exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was among firms that gained.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 39.86 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 10,801.55. Within the index, 23 stocks rose, 15 fell and 12 were unchanged. Turnover was $79.2 million.

Stocks across Asia were higher, following the upbeat tone from Wall Street on Friday, as investors remained optimistic that a trade deal between US and China can be reached. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said over the weekend that licences for American firms to sell to Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies would be approved very soon.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.3 per cent in afternoon trading, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.2 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index lifted 1.1 per cent.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, was among the day’s leaders, up 2.1 per cent at $19.54. Vista Group Interna

tional rose 1.9 per cent to $3.85. Scales Corp was up 1.7 per cent at $5.30.

After trading closed, New Zealand and China struck a deal to upgrade their existing free trade agreement.

Announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the East Asia Summit in Bangkok, the upgrade would give New Zealand’s wood and paper trade preferential access to China, phasing out tariffs on 12 products over a decade. Fletcher Building led the benchmark index higher, up 2.6 per cent to $4.70.

The electricity companies recovered some of their recent losses. The generator-retailers had been under pressure over the past week after Rio Tinto said it was reviewing the status of the Tiwai Point smelter. Meridian Energy increased 1.6 per cent to $4.59 and Contact Energy was up 0.3 per cent at $7.23.

Dual-listed bank stocks were weaker as Westpac Banking Corp reported a 15 per cent slide in annual profit and said it planned to raise A$2.5 billion ($2.7b) to bolster its balance sheet as transtasman regulators demand higher capital. The shares were halted at $30 to allow for the capital raising. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group declined 1.1 per cent to $28

and AMP fell 1.5 per cent to $1.97.

Kiwi Property Group was the most traded stock on a volume of 2.6 million shares. It was flat at $1.59.

Auckland International Airport

posted the day’s biggest fall, down 1.8 per cent at $9.28. NZX fell 1.6 per cent to $1.26 with just 27,000 shares traded.

Property For Industry was unchanged at $2.39 after it announced a third-quarter dividend of 1.85 cents per share.

Outside the benchmark index,

AFT Pharmaceuticals rose 0.3 per cent to $3.02 after it said new accounting standards meant it would book a one-off $9.8m gain on acquiring full control of the Pascomer topical treatment partnership.

Evolve Education rose 1.3 per cent to 16.2 cents after it agreed to buy five childcare centres in Queensland and Victoria for A$7.7m plus potential earn-outs.