Local shares outperform weaker global peers
New Zealand shares edged higher as positive earnings counterbalanced a weak lead from Wall Street as investors eyed escalating US-China tensions.
The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 25.72 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 10,882.41. Within the index, 25 stocks rose, 22 fell, and three remained unchanged.
Turnover was $867.9 million with volumes boosted by the monthly reweighting of the MSCI Equity Indices. Fletcher Building, up 2 per cent at $3.51, saw 82.7 million shares traded.
Stocks on Wall Street were weaker ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned announcement of his response to China’s extension of control over Hong Kong.
Tensions between the US and China are becoming more animated as election polling in the US was tightening, said Shane Solly, a portfolio manager at Harbour Asset Management. New Zealand’s stock market outperformed its peers as moderately positive updates from Vista Group International and Infratil helped support investor sentiment.
“We are seeing our market holding up against a little bit of weakness in global markets with some earnings results coming out better than expected,” Solly said.
Vista rose 7.1 per cent to $1.50. The cinema software company yesterday told shareholders it is starting to see a few green shoots of the business reviving.
Gentrack rose 0.7 per cent to $1.43. The utility-software company reported a 7 per cent half-year revenue decline due to losing some UK energy-utility customers. It told investors earnings would improve in the second half. Infratil fell 0.6 per cent to $4.79, having spent most of the day stronger. It signalled a 30 per cent earnings improvement from its CDC Data Centres investment in the current financial year. It maintained its dividend in the period.
Pushpay Holdings led the market higher, rising 8 per cent to $7.66. The stock shot upwards earlier this month after reporting higher demand for its online donation software during the United States shutdown. It is now up 81.6 per cent this year.
Chorus rose 5.6 per cent to $7.60, also likely benefiting from an increasing weighting. Its share price is up 21.2 per cent this year with internet infrastructure seen as a safe harbour during the lockdown.
Meridian Energy fell 3.1 per cent to $4.75, and is down 5.4 per cent this year.
Among stocks outside the benchmark index, Rakon rose 10.4 per cent to 26.5c after a group of minority shareholders pushed the directors to sell the company to international investors. Honey products company Comvita dropped 10.8 per cent to $3.40 after completing a capital raising at $2.50 per share.