Comvita, Sky TV lift top-50 index to record

Pay TV operator was the most heavily traded stock by volume yesterday rising from its lows

Sophie Boot

New Zealand shares rose in heavy turnover amidst index rebalancing, with Comvita and Sky Network Television gaining while Pushpay and A2 Milk Co dropped. The S&P/ NZX 50 Index gained 9.75 points, or 0.1 per cent, to a record 8477.08.

Within the index, 20 shares rose, 19 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $345 million.

Both the local benchmark index and the S&P/ASX indices were rebalanced yesterday. Moving out of the NZX 50 was Metro Performance Glass, replaced by Gentrack Group. Metro Glass was unchanged at 77 Gentrack cents while

$6.70.

“Overall the market has had a pretty good day, the index is up at a record high again though a lot of that relates to A2 Milk — without that immaculate rise, the index wouldn’t be anywhere near these sorts of levels,” said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

A2 Milk dropped 2 per cent to $13.62 yesterday, though it has gained 415 per cent in rose 3.4 per cent to the past year. Comvita led the index higher, up 7.6 per cent to $7.80, while NZX rose 2.8 per cent to $1.10. Fletcher Building slipped

0.31 per cent to $6.39.

Sky Network Television gained 6.5 per cent to $2.29, and was the most heavily traded stock by volume yesterday, with some

34.3 million shares traded, making up about a third of total shares traded.

“It’s had a bit of a selloff this week but has managed to regain a little bit of ground yesterday and today, and it’s back to where it started the week,” Williamson said.

“It has rebounded not too badly from that earlier low of $2.06, though it is still a pretty depressed share price.”

Pushpay Holdings was the worst performer, down 2.3 per cent to $4.24, while Metlifecare dropped 1.5 per cent to $5.78.

Outside the benchmark index, Veritas Investments was unchanged at 4 cents. Shareholders voted to sell the business and assets of the Mad Butcher franchisor to its chief executive Michael Morton for $8 million at a special meeting held yesterday in Auckland.

Prior to the meeting, independent adviser Simmons Corporate Finance said the $8m price tag falls within its estimated value of between $7.2m and $9.4m and that the transaction is fair to shareholders not associated with Morton.