Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: The S&P/NZX 50 Index broke through the 10,000 level for the first time yesterday.

The benchmark index rose as high as 10,036, and ended the day up 45.22 points, or 0.5%, at 10,004.84. Within the index, 24 stocks rose, 22 fell, and four were unchanged. Turnover was light at $76.4 million.

The NZX50 has had a couple of attempts at hitting the 10,000 level in the past month, as global equity markets were buoyed by low interest rates providing cheap finance to corporates and making returns on bonds less attractive than stocks. It took five years to double from the 5000 level, having taken five years to reach that mark from 2500 in the fallout of the global financial crisis.

NZX chief executive Mark Peterson said it was a great milestone for the market and compared well with its global peers.

‘‘It represents the significant growth we have seen in the New Zealand market over the past 10 years, with the S&P/NZX 50 up more than 280% over that period,’’ he said.

NZX fell 1% to $1.

‘‘It’s a nice achievement, isn’t it? Growth companies got us towards it, and defensive stocks helped us get above the level,’’ Rickey Ward, head of NZ equities at JBWere, said.

‘‘Maybe it’s going to be value companies, like Fletcher Building, that haven’t performed over the last two or three years that help lift it further,’’ he said. Fletcher increased 0.2% to $5.19.

Restaurant Brands New Zealand led the market higher, up 4% at $8.38 on a volume of 100,000 shares. The fastfood operator was one of several companies sold off last week when it dropped its dividend payment and reported softer earnings than expected.

Tourism Holdings, Mercury NZ and Genesis Energy were others that warned of lower earnings and were also sold off last week. Yesterday, Tourism Holdings rose 1% to $4.25, Mercury was unchanged at $3.85 and Genesis increased 0.7% to $3.08.

Exporters were among the day’s gainers. F&P Healthcare was up 3.1% at $15.63 and a2 Milk rose 2.4% to $16.08. The kiwi dropped below 6US7c, which boosts the value of export receipts when converted back into local currency.

Scales Corp rose 0.4% to $5.03 and Sanford increased 0.3% to $6.87.

Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said yield stocks had been a favourite among investors, but that there was also an appetite for growth companies, such as a2 and F&P Healthcare.

‘‘The market continues to surprise a fair number of people at how well it’s performed.’’

Spark New Zealand was the most traded stock, a volume of just 1.4 million shares changing hands as the holidayshortened week kept the market relatively quiet. Spark rose 1.2% to $3.745.

Just two other stocks in the index traded on volumes of more than a million shares. Meridian Energy was down 1% at $4.04 and Contact Energy fell 0.7% to $6.77.

Summerset Group posted the biggest fall on the day, down 2.5% at $5.85, followed by Ryman Healthcare, down 2.4% at $12.05.

The Australian sharemarket surged through the 6300 barrier in the first trading session after the fourday Easter break, finishing at its highest point in eight months on a buoyant energy sector.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished up 59.6 points, or 0.95%, to 6319.4 points, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 61.2 points, or 0.96%, to 6411.1.

Consumer discretionaries, the banks, and tech sectors all rose more than 1% while energy stocks jumped 2.5% after oil prices soared on the United States’ announcement it would take more steps to choke off Iranian oil exports.

Santos rose 3.05% to $7.44, while Woodside Petroleum, Caltex, Oil Search and Origin Energy gained 2.55%, 1.64%, 1.74% and 3.42% respectively.