Comvita surges as China eases stance on honey grey market

Shares were mixed, with about the same number of gainers and decliners. Comvita rose on optimism about its prospects in China, Genesis Energy rose on perceptions that gentailers offer an attractive yield while Tegel Group fell amid concerns ample supplies of chicken are weighing on prices.

The S& P/ NZX 50 Index rose 11.28 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 7073.83. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 20 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $ 172 million.

Comvita, the honey products company, rose 2.3 per cent to $ 8.40. It reached $ 8.41 in intraday trading, its highest this year. Chinese authorities have reportedly eased their stance on e- commerce, where there has been a thriving grey market in its products.

Genesis rose 1.9 per cent to $ 2.13, Meridian Energy gained 0.4 per cent to $ 2.82 and Mercury NZ rose 0.2 per cent to $ 3.155.

“Gentailers are yielding above 8 per cent. There’s not a lot of earnings growth but not too many shocks either,” said David Price, a broker at Forsyth Barr. “That’s better than the yield at the bank.”

He said the local bourse had “decoupled” from shares in the US, where benchmark indexes have been charting record highs.

The NZX 50 reached a record 7585.29 on September 8 and has fallen almost 7 per cent since then. Part of the decline was driven by “a massive pullback” in property stocks as rising interest rates dented the appeal of their dividend yield, Price said.

Goodman Property Trust fell 1.6 per cent to $ 1.20. Argosy Property dropped 0.5 per cent to 99.5c and Vital Healthcare Property fell 0.2 per cent to $ 2.05.

New Zealand Refining rose 1.7 per cent to $ 2.40. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group rose 1.5 per cent to $ 34 and Westpac Banking Corp gained 1.4 per cent to $ 36.94.

Z Energy rose 1.2 per cent to $ 7.05 and Auckland International Airport gained 1.1 per cent to $ 6.895.

Spark rose 0.2 per cent to $ 3.39 and TeamTalk rose 3.6 per cent to 86c.

TeamTalk said yesterday it planned to sell a 70 per cent stake in its problematic Farmside rural internet services provider to Vodafone New Zealand for $ 10m, almost half what Spark New Zealand was willing to pay for the entire group.

Tegel fell 2.5 per cent to $ 1.15. “The news that is circulating is of further pricing pressure for chicken,” Price said.

Intueri Education Group dropped 21 per cent to 1.1c after the ailing private train- ing provider said it would exit the Australian market on March 29, having failed to convince education authorities to reregister its colleges or renew funding. It also confirmed a standstill arrangement with its bank and said it could not get its accounts audited.

CBL Corp rose 0.9 per cent to $ 3.35. The company said yesterday it wanted to add US insurer Affirmative Direct Insurance Co in a US$ 5.7m deal that would expand its global footprint to the world’s biggest economy.