Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares gained as the dollar sank following the official cash rate update, with Pushpay Holdings recovering from recent selling and Skycity Entertainment Group continuing to gain.

The S&P/NZX50 Index rose 68.1 points, or 0.77%, to 8940.19. Within the index, 33 stocks rose, nine fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $95 million.

Yesterday, Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr kept the official cash rate at 1.75%. That was widely expected, but Mr Orr also said he now expected to keep rates on hold into 2020, at least a year longer than previously thought, and reiterated the next move could be up or down.

‘‘The RB statement was certainly one of the key focal points of the day and it has seen the currency weaken quite sharply against the US and Australian dollars, and an element of the market today is that, although not entirely — there’s a randomness in order flow driving some of it,’’ Salt Funds Management managing director Matt Goodson said.

‘‘Certainly names that do tend to move on a Kiwi/Aussie dollar have moved, like Fletcher Building and other names with offshore earnings — Fisher & Paykel Healthcare is up, Pushpay is up after a few very weak days, NZ Refining is a big beneficiary of a weaker kiwi dollar.’’

Pushpay Holdings — which operates in the US, where its payment app targets the church giving sector — was the best performer, up 3.1% to $3.64. Fletcher Building rose 2.4% to $6.98, New Zealand Refining rose 2.1% to $2.48 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 1% to $14.77.

However, other stocks which can benefit from a weaker New Zealand dollar did not reap such benefits, with Sanford up 0.4% to $7.71 and Scales Corp down 0.4% to $4.57.

Skycity Entertainment Group rose 2.2% to $4.17, its second day of gains after yesterday when it increased fullyear earnings more than forecast.

Fonterra Shareholders Fund was in a trading halt at $5.11. Fonterra Cooperative Group’s 2018 earnings may differ from its previous guidance, the country’s dominant dairy company said yesterday.

‘‘To go into a trading halt suggests it must be material, and what they’ve stated is there may be a variation of earnings, so one can only assume a material earnings downgrade,’’ Mr Goodson said.

Kathmandu Holdings was the worst performer, down 1.6% to $2.09, while Gentrack Group declined 1.3% to $6.73.

Vital Healthcare Property Trust dropped 1.2% to $2.13. It saw adjusted earnings grow in 2018 as it continued to invest and expand throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Outside the benchmark index, Hallenstein Glasson Holdings was unchanged at $5.53. It says annual profit rose about 58%, outpacing sales growth, after the clothing chain sold its Storm brand.

A Australian shares made solid gains yesterday and closed just shy of 6300 points, with financial and consumer stocks driving gains after positive results for Suncorp and Crown outweighing a drop in the energy sector.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 ended the day up 29.2 points, or 0.47% at 6297.7 points, while the All Ordinaries index was up 28.7 points, or 0.45%, at 6383.6 points.

Crown Resorts posted a normalised annual profit up 12.7% to $386.6 million and signalled that Chinese highroller gamblers were returning.

The casino group’s shares soared 6.7% to $14.21 — the highest close in more than three years.

Suncorp, Australia’s secondlargest general insurer, rose 4.7% to $15.70 as it showed an improved second half in its fullyear results and announced its plan to sell its life insurance division for $725 million, ending over a year of speculation on the sale.

The benchmark’s top gainer on the day was fund management firm Magellan Financial Group, which jumped 14.3% to $27.60 on reporting an 8% rise in fullyear net profit.

In the other direction, Australia’s biggest power producer, AGL Energy, was among the benchmark’s biggest losers after a warning it expects almost no profit growth this year, with wholesale prices dropping and a retail war persisting. AGL shares fell 90c or 4.1% to $21.11.

Mining giant Rio Tinto dropped 1.6% to its lowest close in four months with its shares trading exdividend, while BHP, the world’s biggest miner, tacked on 0.1%.

BHP said yesterday a Brazilian federal court approved a deal with authorities in the country to settle a lawsuit worth 20 billion reais ($US5.30 billion) over a 2015 dam failure that killed 19 people.

The miner separately agreed to pay $US50 million as part of a settlement for a class action complaint filed by American depositary receipt holders over the disaster. —BusinessDesk /AAP