Skycity drawn into Aussie crackdown
The New Zealand sharemarket had a solid start to the new week, but Skycity Entertainment stumbled after becoming embroiled in an Australian review of the gaming sector.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose strongly at the opening and then traded steadily, closing at 10,862.34 – up 109.18 points or 1.02 per cent and breaking a sequence of three down days which saw the index fall 2.4 per cent. There were 93 gainers and 47 decliners over the whole market on volume of 30.79 million share transactions worth $97.58 million.
It followed a strong day on Wall Street on Friday, and the Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 1.19 per cent to 6617.4 points at 6pm NZ time.
Greg Smith, head of retail with Devon Funds Management, said building consents in Australia rose 9.9 per cent in May when the market was predicting a fall of 2 per cent, and this helped sentiment. “The market missed by a country mile. Everyone has been worried about a recession, inflation and rising interest rates, and there’s been gloom and doom around the property sector. But the building sector isn’t rolling over. Consent numbers and activity are still quite firm on both sides of the Tasman.
“Australia is also opening its border to unvaccinated travellers and this shows they are really re-opening.”
Skycity Entertainment was down 12c or 4.1 per cent to $2.81 after telling the market that South Australia’s gaming regulator is commissioning an independent review of its Adelaide casino as part of a wider look into the sector. Retired Supreme Court judge Brian Martin will report back by February 1. Smith said Australian operators Crown
Resorts and Star Entertainment Group have been under the spotlight for operational failings and there’s no suggestion that Skycity has followed. “The VIP segment at the Adelaide casino is smaller than the other operators, and I think the review is a bit more political for the sake of completeness.”
Leading local stocks had a better day. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 25c to $19.80; Ebos Group gained 20c to $38.01; Mainfreight increased 95c to $69.95; Fletcher Building collected 7c to $5.02; and
Freightways was up 8c to $9.20.
Contact Energy was up 8c to $7.15;
Meridian collected 9c or 1.95 per cent to $4.695; Chorus increased 13c or 1.81 per cent to $7.30; Ryman Healthcare rose 21c or 2.4 per cent to $8.96;
Infratil gained 15c or 1.99 per cent to $7.70; and Skellerup Holdings was up 8c to $5.28.
Milk operators a2 Milk was up 11c or 2.27 per cent to $4.95; Synlait increased 5c to $3.15; and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund rose 7c or 2.25 per cent to $3.18. As more travel opens up, Air New Zealand climbed 3c or 5.13 per cent to 61.5c, and Tourism Holdings rose 8c or 3.42 per cent to $2.42. Restaurant Brands was up 28c or 2.64 per cent to $10.88; Heartland Group Holdings increased 6c or 3.14 per cent to $1.97; Argosy Property gained 3.5c or 2.87 per cent to $1.225;
Seeka was up 18c or 3.86 per cent to $4.84; and PGG Wrightson collected 10c or 2.25 per cent to $4.55.
Retailers Briscoe Group was up 19c or 3.65 per cent to $5.39, and
Hallenstein Glasson was down 11c or 2.06 per cent to $5.24.
New Zealand Oil & Gas declined 4.5c or 9.68 per cent to 42c and New Zealand Rural Land Company shed 3c or 2.78 per cent to $1.05.
— NZ Herald