Market commentary
WELLINGTON: The strong influence of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare pushed the New Zealand sharemarket to a small gain, as investors wait for the next round of corporate results.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 42.13 points, or 0.34%, to 12,577.48 on steady trading of 35.2 million shares worth $150.35 million. There were 65 gainers and 62 decliners over the whole market.
With market capitalisation of $19.76 billion, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare makes up 14% of the index’s weighting. The market leader steered the index by rising $1.40, or 4.24%, to $34.40, its highest level for nearly three months.
Craigs Investment Partners investment adviser Nigel Scott said Covid19 was still active in the world and Fisher & Paykel was leading into its March financial result, which would be announced next month.
He said the New Zealand market was reasonably fully priced, though it had good dividend yield, the energy stocks were finding their feet following the exchangetraded funds selling, and investors were trying to add growth stocks from offshore.
‘‘The end of March results will start coming through in a week’s time and they will provide some market direction,’’ Mr Scott said.
Chorus continued to rebound, gaining 15c, or 2.3%, to $6.68 after reaching a low of $16.41 last week. Fletcher Building was up 11c to $7.14; Seeka rose another 10c, or 1.9%, to $5.35; and The Colonial Motor Company increased 22c, or 2.52%, to $8.95.
ERoad keeps running strong, up 9c to $5.64; The Bankers Investment Trust gained 11c, or 4.76%, to $2.42; and Just Life Group rose 8c, or 9.09%, to 96c.
The energy stocks have lost their strong volatility. Meridian was down 13c, or 2.31%, to $5.49; Contact was up 2c to $7.51; Mercury declined 3c to $6.55; and Genesis shed 5.5c to $3.375.
Mainfreight was down $1.09 to $68.21; Ebos Group shed 30c to $29.80; a2 Milk fell 8c to $8.23; Freightways lost 14c to $11.10; Air New Zealand declined 3.5c, or 2.01%, to $1.705; Scales Corporation decreased 8c, or 1.7%, to $4.62; and Vista Group lost 6c, or 2.52%, to $2.32.
Property company Argosy was down 3c or, 1.97%, to $1.49; Precinct fell 2.5c to $1.635; and Stride declined 2c to $2.28.
Tourism Holdings found favourable buying support, rising 5c, or 1.85%, to $2.75 after reporting an improvement, albeit it will record a loss for the 2021 financial year.
Insurer AMP fell 4c, or 3.2%, to $1.21 after delivering its firstquarter report. Australian wealth management assets increased $A1.6 billion ($NZ1.72 billion) to $A125.7 billion, reflecting improved investment markets, and New Zealand assets under management decreased to $A12.2 billion from the previous quarter of $A12.4 billion, in part due to the exit of a large corporate superannuation client. AMP paid $A448 million in pension payments. —