Market commentaries

AUCKLAND: New Zealand shares were mixed yesterday, as investors positioned before the general election on September 23. Xero rose to a threeyear high and Summerset Group was up, while Vector fell.

The S&P/NZX50 Index fell 8.2 points, or 0.1%, to 7819.23. Within the index, 23 stocks rose, 21 fell and six were unchanged. Turnover was $146 million.

‘‘The election is still very much in focus. Volume . . . running through the market was very light. There’s not a lot of corporate news flow,’’ Peter McIntyre, investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said.

‘‘We’ve been quick to move away from geopolitical events to the election. We’ve seen different polls come through, and market participants positioning themselves, because at this stage it’s 5050.’’

Xero was the best performer, up 3.2% to $28.10, the highest it has traded since June 2014. The stock has rallied 55.6% this year.

‘‘There has been some talk that Xero could benefit if our tax system changes. I think there’s more to it than that,’’ Mr McIntyre said.

‘‘Once it starts to break even they’ll definitely see earnings growth. Its uptake within New Zealand and Australia is strong, but it has still got that global appeal to it.’’

Summerset Group gained 2% to $5.10. It plans to build its fifth retirement village in the greater Wellington region with the purchase of a 6ha block of land north of the city. The Wellingtonbased company wants to develop a 290unit village with a resthome and hospital care and is Summerset’s seventh greenfield site. The land is in Porirua’s Kenepuru Landing development, a joint residential development between local iwi Ngati Toa and Taurangabased developer Carrus Corp.

‘‘It still sees a lot of growth in the marketplace. I don’t think it comes as a surprise,’’ Mr McIntyre said.

‘‘There have been some reports saying that if retirement villages weren’t developing those sites New Zealand would have a massive shortfall. It’s a bit of positive news from Summerset which reported very well.’’

Air New Zealand was the worst performer, down 2.6% to $3.33, while Arvida Group shed 1.6% to $1.23. Vector dropped 2.4% to $3.22.

‘‘It’s been weak since posting a reasonable result. It looks likely it will be removed from some FTSE indices this coming Friday,’’ Mr McIntyre said.

‘‘There is obviously some selling that has to occur so that’s provided some weakness to the share price.’’ Auckland Airport dipped 0.3% to $6.36.

‘‘For the month rolling it’s down over 5%. It’s a stock that usually has good liquidity running through it,’’ Mr McIntyre said.

‘‘I think there are still concerns, even though growth outlook is strong. They’re doing massive capital outlay and maybe some parts of the market have got concerns about that effect on its earnings.’’

Outside the benchmark index, Turners Automotive Group fell 4.8% to $3.20. On Wednesday it was halted during a $25 million placement at $3.02 per share, which was fully subscribed and the underwriter was not called on to top up the discounted offer.

‘‘That was eagerly soughtafter. It was snapped up,’’ Mr McIntyre said.

‘‘Those able to participate will be happy. It’s a company that still sees a lot of growth in the market and they’ve got a good relationship with Motor Trade Finance. It’s good news they were able to complete the placement so quickly overnight.’’

The Australian sharemarket finished slightly lower for a second day running, as mining stocks dipped but betterthanexpected jobs growth helped lift the Australian dollar back around US80c after an overnight dip.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 finished the day down 5.6 points, or 0.1%, at 5738.7 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 5.6 points, or 0.1%, at 5798.4 points.

National turnover was 3.2 billion securities traded worth $A5 billion.

Official figures released yesterday showed that Australia’s unemployment rate was steady at 5.6% in August but the economy added far more jobs than expected. The Australian dollar had slipped to around US79.7c overnight, as hopes of progress on longawaited US tax reform fuelled the greenback.

But the Aussie spiked to 80.16c just after the local jobs figures were released, and was at 79.98c by late afternoon, from 80.28c on Wednesday.

Phillip Capital senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the local share market had a good run upward on Monday and Tuesday and had finished ‘‘line ball’’ on Wednesday and Thursday.

He said mining stocks were having a breather ‘‘after a good couple of days’’.

In the resources sector, BHP Billiton eased 1.8% to $26.89, Rio Tinto backtracked 1.6% to $68.38, and South32 slipped 0.9% to $3.20 as it went exdividend.

In the energy sector, firmer oil prices helped Woodside Petroleum lift 0.8% to $28.54, and Santos climbed 1% to to $3.94.

Among the major banks ANZ rose 0.5% to $30.19, Westpac put on 0.3% at $31.82, Commonwealth Bank improved 0.3% to $76.75, and National Australia Bank was up 0.7% to $30.94.

Department store operator Myer ascended 1c, or 1.4%, to 73c after its fullyear financial results were not as bad as many analysts had feared.

The retailer made just $11.94 million in statutory net profit for the 52 weeks to July 29, down 80.3% on the previous 53week year.

Underlying net profit was down 1.9% to $67.9 million. Vocus Goup edged up 1c to $2.42, despite a proposed class action alleging the telecommunications provider had engaged in ‘‘misleading and deceptive conduct’’ and breached disclosure obligations.

Macquarie Atlas Roads was in a trading halt as it seeks to raise $450 million to help fund the expansion of its stake in a French motorway network.

Macquarie Atlas last traded at $5.53.