Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares rose after the threeday weekend, led by a2 Milk, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Sky Network Television. Cavalier jumped after giving guidance for improved fullyear earnings.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 120.88 points, or 1.4%, to 8757.04. Within the index, 41 stocks rose, seven fell and two were unchanged. Turnover was $159 million.

The milk marketer a2 rose 5.3% to $11. It has fallen from a peak of $14.62 in late February on concern about increased rivalry in the Chinese market and on disappointment margins have not grown as fast as sales.

‘‘It’s a company that’s had pretty good growth but has disappointed in the rate of growth and so the shares have come slowly back. Today is a recovery day,’’ said Rickey Ward, NZ equity manager at JBWere. He said a2 might also have benefited from Fonterra Cooperative Group’s comment that strong demand out of China continued as imports across all key categories were up for the 12 months to March.

Synlait Milk rose 1.6% to $11.14, while the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund fell 0.2% to $5.20.

Investore Property gained 5.4% to $1.57, leading the index higher.

Meridian Energy rose 2.9% to $3.15 after saying it is considering offering up to $200 million of sevenyear unsecured, unsubordinated fixed rate bonds to institutional and New Zealand retail investors.

JBWere’s Ward said other listed corporates may also look to tap the bond market ‘‘to take advantage of an investment community with a lot of cash and looking for places to invest’’ as a result of corporate activity such as the $438 million takeover of NZXlisted Tegel Group by Philippinesbased poultry group Bounty Fresh Foods and recent bond maturities.

Corporates might also want to raise debt capital to benefit from current low interest rates, given the signs were that interest rates would rise, Mr Ward said.

F&P Healthcare rose 3.2% to $13.91 and Sky TV rose 2.6% to $2.38.

Kathmandu Holdings was the worst performer, down 1.6% to $2.42, while Kiwi Property Group fell 1.4% to $1.37.

Outside the benchmark index, Cavalier jumped 13% to 62 after the carpet maker forecast annual profit of $3.7 million to $4 million, from a yearearlier loss, driven by improved margins following the carpetmaker’s restructuring and the benefits of more favourable wool prices.

‘‘It was an upgrade in very low numbers,’’ Mr Ward said. ‘‘But it has gone from a loss to a profit company so that’s not a bad thing.’’

The Australian sharemarket has been hit by falls in the heavyweight energy and mining sectors caused by weaker commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 30.6 points, or 0.51%, at 5994.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 30.1 points, or 0.49% to 6108.5 points.

CommSec market analyst Steve Daghlian said falls in commodity prices proved more influential to investors than positive sessions for markets in the US and Europe.

‘‘Commodity prices took a big hit, oil in particular was down 1.6%, iron ore down about 1.3%, so the weakest areas in the market have been mainly around the resource space,’’ he said.

Woodside Petroleum fell 0.7% to $32.02, Santos dropped 2.1% to $5.65 and Origin Energy was 2.4% weaker at $9.36.

BHP Billiton dropped 1.4% to $32.74, Rio Tinto also fell 1.4% to $81.95, and Fortescue Metals was 1.3% weaker at $4.75.

The financial sector ended the session slightly stronger, thanks to gains by Commonwealth Bank, Perpetual, Bank of Queensland and Suncorp. — Business Desk