Market commentaries
Wellington: New Zealand shares rose yesterday, with A2 Milk Co and highyielding stocks such as Contact Energy and Genesis Energy gaining, and market activity still quiet before next month’s reporting season.
The S&P/NZX50 Index rose 27.97 points, or 0.4%, to 7074.94. Within the index, 28 stocks rose, 14 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $85 million.
A2 Milk Co led the index, up 3.6% to $2.30. The stock has recovered after being sold off amidst uncertainty about ASXlisted Bellamy’s Australia.
Contact Energy gained 1.4% to $4.95, Genesis Energy rose 0.9% to $2.17 and Auckland Airport advanced 0.5% to $6.755.
Infratil rose 2% to $2.865 and Summerset Group Holdings gained 2% to $4.68.
Kiwi Property was the worst performer, down 1.4% to $1.415. Vector dropped 1.2% to $3.24 and Vital Healthcare Property Trust fell 1.2% to $2.065.
Outside the benchmark index, Hellaby Holdings gained 0.3% to $3.58. Its independent directors now support a takeover bid by ASXlisted auto parts firm Bapcor after the offer was declared unconditional. Bapcor wants Hellaby for its automotive business and plans to sell its equipment, resources and footwear businesses.
On Friday Bapcor declared the $3.60pershare offer unconditional, after it secured more than 50% of the shares, and extended the closing date to February 7. As of yesterday morning, it owned 56% of Hellaby.
Veritas Investments was unchanged at 20 cents. ANZ Bank New
Zealand has agreed to extend the deadline for Veritas to either sell or begin winding up its Nosh food supermarkets until the end of the month.
The Australian sharemarket closed stronger yesterday, boosted by mining heavyweights, but afternoon trading was flat as investors await the inauguration of United States presidentelect Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech on Britain’s postEuropean Union future and Chinese GDP figures.
Higher copper prices and strong iron ore futures boosted the materials sector.
BHP Billiton jumped 44 cents to to $26.77, Rio Tinto gained $1.13 at $63.22 and Fortescue Metals added 18 cents to $6.34.
Among the major banks, Westpac advanced 16 cents to $33.06, ANZ found 12 cents at $30.79, Commonwealth Bank put on 23 cents at $84.09, and National Australia Bank rose three cents to $31.13.
But a fall in oil prices hurt energy stocks, with oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum down five cents to $31.88 and Santos slipping four cents to $4.15.
Among other stocks, Woolworths was up nine cents at $24.47 after appointing longstanding Tesco executive Claire Peters as managing director of its supermarkets chain. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 27.3 points, or 0.48%, at 5748.4 points. The broader All Ordinaries index was up 26.2 points, or 0.45%, at 5803.0 points.
The March SPI200 futures contract was up 13 points 5,702 points, with 25,581 contracts traded. Preliminary national turnover was 1.9 billion securities traded worth $3.08 billion. — BusinessDesk/AAP