Positive day offshore leads strong revival of NZ sharemarket
The leading energy and retirement stocks led a strong revival in the New Zealand sharemarket, up more than one percent, following a positive day offshore.
Tuesday, March 28th 2023, 6:41PM
by BusinessDesk
The S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed steadily through the session and finished 158.41 points or 1.36% ahead at 11,771.27 million – the biggest single-day rise in four months.
There were 81 gainers and 53 decliners over the whole market on volume of 35.9m share transactions worth $116.42m.
Investors became more confident as the banking situation settled in the United States. First Citizens Bank agreed to buy US$72 billion (NZ$115.5b) of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) assets for a discounted US$16.5b, with Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation dealing with US$90b worth of SVB securities.
First Citizens' share price surged 50% and will join the top 20 biggest banks in the US.
David McConnochie, an investment adviser with Forsyth Barr, said the banking stocks on Wall Street lifted 2% overall. “First Citizens has got a pretty good deal and optimism flowed through the markets. It looks like the banking sector is stabilising.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% to 32,432.08, while across the Tasman the S&P/ASX 200 Index had risen 1.09% to 7037.6 points at 6pm NZ time.
“There was a strong day in the lithium and oil stocks in Australia spurred by a takeover offer for Liontown Resources,” said McConnochie.
The latest Australia inflation rate, out this week, is forecast to fall to 7.1%, from 7.4%, and this increases the expectation that the Reserve Bank will leave interest rate rises on hold at its April meeting.
NZ’s Reserve Bank meets next Wednesday and ANZ expects a 25 basis points increase in the official cash rate (OCR) to 5%.
The bank said on balance local economic data since the February monetary policy statement has not convincingly tilted things in either direction, and it is still forecasting an OCR peak of 5.25% with one more hike to come in May.
On the homefront, Mercury Energy rose 24c or 4.01% to $6.22; Contact was up 27c or 3.69% to $7.59; Meridian increased 10c or 1.98% to $5.14; and Vector added 5c to $3.90.
Retirement village operators came alive, with Ryman Healthcare rising 19c or 3.78% to $5.22; Summerset Group increasing 30c or 3.49% to 8.90; and Arvida Group adding 2c or 2.13% to 96c.
Leaders lead
Other leading stocks Fisher and Paykel Healthcare increased 22c to $26.37; Fletcher Building was up 13c or 3.05% to $4.39; Mainfreight surged $3.09 or 4.56% to $70.79; and Port of Tauranga was up 12c or 1.97% to $6.20.
The property sector had another solid day. Kiwi was up 3c or 3.45% to 90c; Argosy also gained 3c or 2.73% to $1.13; Stride added 2c to $1.34; and Precinct collected 2c to $1.275. Investore, however, was down 3c or 2.11% to $1.39.
Property for Industry, down 1c to $2.24, has increased its loan facility with Bank of NZ from $100m to $175m and extended it to the end of March 2025.
Infratil increased 15c to $9; Sky TV rose 9c or 3.61% to $2.58; Heartland Group collected 3c or 1.96% to $1.56; Vista Group added 4c or 3.15% to $1.31; and Ventia Services weas up 7c or 2.59% to $2.77.
In the retail sector, Briscoe Group rose 19c or 4.34% to $4.57; KMD Brands was up 2c or 2.3% to 89c; and Hallenstein Glasson gained 4c to $5.44.
A fall in earnings has hit The Warehouse Group, down 8c or 4.12% to $1.86, a 50% fall since sitting at $3.75 in mid-September last year.
Synlait Milk continued its slide after another broker downgrade, down 9c or 3.96% to $2.18. Synlait has fallen from the $3.68 set on December 13 and is down nearly 33% over the past 12 months. It reached an all-time high of $12.80 on Aug 1 2018.
Ebos Group was down 49c to $45.20; a2 Milk declined 12c or 1.88% to $6.28; T&G Global shed 6c or 2.8% to $2.08; Rakon fell 3c or 3.26% to 89c; Accordant Group decreased 4c or 2.44% to $1.60; and ikeGPS was down 2c or2.33% to 84c.
AFT Pharmaceuticals was down 6c to $3.35; Eroad declined 2c or 2.82% to $2.08. Serko decreased 5c or 2.17% to $2.25, and Foley Wines fell 6c or 4.44% to $1.29.
Private Land and Property Fund, down 1.3c to $1.327, told the market that the valuation of its Marlborough vineyards has increased by $6.5m, adding 5.1% to its net asset value of $1.4063 perunit.
| « NZ market makes small gain despite Synlait taking hit | Buyers shun market and shares dip » |
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