Energy stocks in demand on busy day
Christmas shopping activity gives retailers healthy lift
The New Zealand sharemarket roared back into life, rising nearly half a per cent on strong trading with the leading energy stocks being pursued by overseas investors.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed 61.82 points or 0.48 per cent to 12,828.99, after two days of falls and hitting an intraday low of 12,761.33.
There were 88 gainers and 53 decliners over the whole market, with 107.5 million shares worth $314.6 million changing hands.
Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said there was a reasonable overnight in the United States (the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.13 per cent to 30,199.31) and the New Zealand and Australian markets bounced back after being quite weak at the close the day before.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.8 per cent to 6684.4 points at 5.45pm (NZ time), while the NZ dollar strengthened, once again topping the 71c mark against the American greenback. The NZ dollar traded between US70.81c and 71.12c during the day.
Contact finished down 2c to $8 after reaching an intraday high of $8.30; Meridian finally gained 3c to $6.63 after hitting an intraday high of $6.955; and Mercury fell from a high of $6.42 to close at $6.34, up 13c or 2.09 per cent for the day. Trustpower
shed 24c or 3.07 per cent to $7.59.
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare had another topsy-turvy day. It fell as low as $31.60 before recovering to $32.56, up 50c on trade worth $45.6m.
With consumers out buying for Christmas, retailers Briscoe Group
rose 23c or 4.54 per cent to $5.30, and Hallenstein Glasson was up 15c or 2.31 per cent to $6.65. Retirement village operators Ryman Healthcare
and Summerset Group Holdings are repaying their Covid-19 wage subsidies of $14.2m and $8.6m respectively. Ryman fell 29c to $14.71, while Summerset climbed 32c or 2.94 per cent to $11.20. Summerset upgraded its underlying profit for the year ending December to $96m-$98m. Its first half profit was $45.1m.
Goodson said Summerset gave a strong update “as you’d hope given the strength of the housing market”.
Utilities investor Infratil said it has executed its offer to buy 56 per cent of radiology specialist Qscan Group Holdings from Quadrant Private Equity for A$330m ($351m), and approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board is progressing. Infratil expects to complete the deal by the end of the month, and its share price declined 8c to $7.02.
Pushpay Holdings, which resumed trading with aplomb, raised $97.9m at $1.79 a share to cover the sell-down of a combined 54.68m shares held by company executives Chris Heaslip and Chris Fowler. Pushpay’s share price steadied 5c or 2.65 per cent down at $1.84, after going as low as $1.72 during the day on trade of 61.48m shares worth $110m.
Kiwifruit grower and packer
Seeka rose 10c 2.3 per cent after announcing a special dividend of 12c a share paid on January 27.
Allied Farmers climbed 7c or 12.07 per cent to 65c after helping new listing NZ Rural Land Company achieve its target of raising $75m in its initial public offering.