Shares rise as fears of trade war recede
Orion Health, Sky TV, F&P Healthcare and Spark lead broad-based gains as New Zealand joins Asia-wide rally Boost for NZ dollar
New Zealand shares rose as the local market joined a region-wide rally on optimism the US and China will avoid a trade war that could slow global growth.
Sky Network Television, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Spark NZ led broad-based gains. Orion Health jumped 11 per cent.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 60.86 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 8454.13. Within the index, 29 stocks rose, 10 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $100.8 million.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.3 per cent on Friday in the US but US stock futures have gained in Asia. Among regional benchmarks, Japan’s Topix was up 0.6 per cent, the Straits Times Index rose 0.4 per cent and across the Tasman the S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.3 per cent in afternoon trading.
The gains in New Zealand stocks “are pretty consistent with elsewhere in Asia”, said Greg Smith, head of research at Fat Prophets in Auckland. “Last week was one of the more volatile weeks. Global markets have been on a knife edge, or a tweet-edge.”
Traders were now awaiting a speech by China’s President, Xi Jinping, today for any signals about the trade spat, he said.
Sky TV led the index higher, gaining 4.3 per cent to $2.45. The stock has tumbled on concern about the inroads streaming rivals are making on the company’s pay-TV market share and more recent news that it isn’t the preferred bidder for the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and that chief executive John Fellett is retiring.
“There’s not going to be a magic wand” for Sky TV, Smith said. “They’re not going to get rid of their problems overnight — the disruption from Netflix and others.”
Fletcher Building rose 2.1 per cent to $5.97, having dropped about 26 per cent in the past 12 months on losses from its Building + Interiors unit. Spark rose 1.6 per cent to $3.395.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare closed up 37c at $13.63. Trade Me Group, the auction website, rose 1.6 per cent to $4.44. Argosy Property rose 1 per cent to $1.01 and Kathmandu gained 1.2 per cent to $2.57.
Pushpay Holdings was the biggest decliner on the NZX 50, falling 2.1 per cent to $4.17. Heartland Bank fell 1.7 per cent to $1.70 and Synlait Milk fell 1.6 per cent to $8.82.
Outside the benchmark index, Orion Health rose 11 per cent to 80c, adding to a 20 per cent surge on Friday after the software developer said it was pursuing “potentially significant transactions”. — BusinessDesk The New Zealand dollar rose against the greenback as risk appetite got a lift from reports North Korea told the US that Kim Jong Un is open to talks on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. The kiwi traded at US72.93c late yesterday in Wellington versus US72.68c at 8am and from US72.62c Saturday. The kiwi dollar rose to ¥78.07 versus ¥77.64 on Saturday. It traded at 59.42 euro cents from 59.11 on Saturday. The kiwi traded at A94.84c from A94.56c on Friday. — BusinessDesk