Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares rose for a second day yesterday in an increasingly volatile market. Equities rose across Asia and Chorus led the local market higher.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 45.41 points, or 0.4%, to 10,176.99. Within the index, 21 stock rose, 17 fell and 12 were unchanged. Turnover was $109 million.

Stocks across Asia were largely stronger. China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.2% in afternoon trading, and Singapore’s Straits Times index up 0.1%.

The local market is being buoyed by several tailwinds, including low interest rates making stocks with reliable dividends more attractive and a glut of funds needing reinvestment, such as the proceeds from the $2.56 billion Trade Me takeover and ASB Bank’s buyback of $550 million of perpetual preference shares.

Vector yesterday set the interest rate on $250 million of sixyear bonds at 3.45%. Vector shares rose 0.8% to $3.86.

Telecommunications network operator Chorus, which trades at a dividend yield of 3.69%, led the market higher, up 3.1% at $6.29 on a volume of 267,000 shares, about half its 90day average of 528,000.

Tourism Holdings rose 3.1% to $4.36 on a volume of 162,000 shares.

Ryman Healthcare, which reports earnings next week, rose 2.5% to $11.75 on a volume of 629,000 shares, up from its usual volume of 410,000.

Infratil was unchanged at $4.45 on a volume of 1.6 million shares, before thoday’s annual result. Spark New Zealand was the most traded stock on a volume of 3.6 million, well short of its 5.8 million average. The telco fell 0.5% to $3.74.

Kiwi Property Group was unchanged at $1.53 on a volume of 3.5 million shares, more than twice its 1.3 million average.

Of other companies trading on volumes of more than a million shares, Goodman Property Trust rose 0.6% to $1.80 and Meridian Energy was unchanged at $4.28.

Duallisted lender Westpac Banking Corp shed rights to its 94c dividend yesterday, and fell 4.4%, or $1.26, to $27.16 on the NZX. Z Energy also gave up rights to a 30.5c dividend, and was down 4%, or 25c, at $6.

Synlait Milk fell 0.6% to $10.14. A2 Milk, which sources product from Synlait and is a shareholder of the milk processor, fell 0.2% to $16.27.

Vista fell 1.1% to $5.47. Pushpay rose 1% to $4.

ASB Bank’s subordinated notes paying annual interest of 6.65% were the most traded debt security on a volume of 2.3 million notes. They closed at a yield of 2.3%, up one basis point. ASB will redeem the $400 million of listed debt on June 17.

ANZ Bank New Zealand’s 2024 bonds paying annual interest of 3.03% traded at a yield of 2.53%, down six basis points, on a volume of one million notes.

The Australian sharemarket recovered from early weakness to finish higher yesterday, every sector rising except banking as Westpac traded exdividend.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index reached its highest level in the final minutes of trade to close up 43.6 points, or 0.69%, at 6327.8 points. The broader All Ordinaries was up 46.6 points, or 0.73%, at 6417.5.

The energy sector was the biggest gainer, up 2.2%, as oil prices rose amid tensions in the Middle East.

Origin Energy gained 4% to $7.74, Woodside Petroleum was up 1.6% at $36.77, Santos gained 2.1% to $7.28 and Oil Search was up 2.3% at $7.64.

Tech shares were the second biggest gainer, up 1.57%, as Xero hit a record high of $60.15 — up $5.84, or 10.75% — after the New Zealand cloudbased accounting platform cut its underlying fullyear loss by 63% and grew its subscriber base by 31%.

The mining sector was up 1.1% as a whole, with BHP up 0.9% at $37.54, South32 up 1.73% at $3.52 and Rio Tinto up 1% at $99.28.

Fortescue Metals gained 3.2% to $8.40, its highest level since 2008.

The big four banks were mixed.

Commonwealth Bank gained 1.1% to $73.33 and ANZ gained 1.4% to $26.66, while NAB fell 0.33% to $24.20 and Westpac fell 3.87% to $25.85 as it went exdividend.

CSR was up 0.3% at $3.37. Blackmores was down 1.54% at $88.10. BWX shares slumped 15% to $1.70 after it announced a global restructure.

The Australian dollar dropped from US69.30c on Wednesday to US69.13c, after official data showed the country’s unemployment rate rose in April, adding pressure on the Reserve Bank to deliver a rate cut. — BusinessDesk/AAP