Shares climb on Kathmandu’s return

Opening of some stores in Oz ray of hope for investors

New Zealand shares edged higher, led by Kathmandu Holdings, which will start reopening its Australian stores this week, and as investors found hope in the prospect of a transtasman travel bubble.

The S&P/NZX Index increased 14.75 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 10,490.73. Within the index, 28 stocks rose, 14 fell, and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $138.1 million.

Kathmandu rose 10.7 per cent to 83 cents after it said it had begun to reopen its Australian stores after a month-long closure. The majority of Kathmandu and Rip Curl stores in New South Wales and Queensland have already reopened with robust safety protocols in place and the remaining stores are expected to reopen by the end of this week.

While stores in New Zealand and other jurisdictions remain closed, they will reopen as governments allow.

New Zealand’s Cabinet is expected to decide on Monday when the country will move to alert level 2. Yesterday was the second day with no new virus cases reported, which buoyed investor expectations of a further opening of the economy.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined the Australian National Cabinet yesterday to plan the opening of a travel route between the countries “as soon as it is safe to do so”.

Ardern had already suggested domestic travel may be permitted at level 2 and tourism operators have said a trans-Tasman bubble will be key to medium-term survival.

Tourism Holdings rose 3.1 per cent to $1.35 and Auckland International Airport rose 0.2 per cent to

$5.86. Air New Zealand fell 1.6 per cent to $1.25.

Pushpay Holdings increased 5.8 per cent to $4.55 after Chinese fintech giant Tencent on Monday bought a 5 per cent stake in Australian buy now, pay later firm Afterpay, boosting investor confidence in fintech products. Pushpay is due to report annual earnings today.

Smartpay Holdings also gained 2.7 per cent to 38.5 cents. Outside the benchmark index,

Augusta Capital said it plans to raise $45m through both a placement to institutions and an accelerated rights issue, both of which are deeply discounted and fully underwritten by Forsyth Barr and Jarden. Its shares are on a trading halt at 80 cents.

The property company’s erstwhile suitor, ASX-listed Centuria Capital, has agreed to participate in the capital raising and will get a seat on Augusta’s board.

Trading on the New Zealand securities exchange surged in April as investors bought into the crater left by the market’s history-making plunge in late March.

The number of equity trades was up more than 360 per cent at 1.3 million, with an increase in low-value trades cutting the average on-market trade size in half to $2463. Stock market operator NZX shares rose 0.8 per cent to $1.27.

Healthcare wholesaler Ebos rose 0.8 per cent to $22.18 after presenting at the Macquarie Australia Conference affirming its strong increase in sales during the pandemic. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 1.2 per cent

to $27.80. Gentrack Group posted the day’s biggest decline, down 2.7 per cent at $1.43.