NZ shares climb as dairy stocks float amid flooding

New Zealand shares lifted today as most dairy stocks continued to recover despite flooding in Canterbury causing chaos in the farming region.

Tuesday, June 1st 2021, 6:38PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 140.96 points, or 1.1%, to 12,462.47. Within the index, 13 stocks fell, 26 rose and six were unchanged. Turnover was $172 million.

Synlait Milk led the market higher as it jumped 8% to $3.24. The milk processor said flooding had caused “significant damage” to several farms in its network, but no milk had been lost.

Days of heavy rain have led to widespread flooding, road and bridge washouts and evacuations. Hundreds of people have been evacuated so far and the damage is expected to run into millions of dollars.

Fonterra said it had been unable to collect milk from 30 farms and a “small number” have had to dispose milk. Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units declined 2.5% to $3.90.

Infant formula exporter, A2 Milk Company continued to recover from multi-year lows, clawing back 3.2% to $6.05 today.

Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the Chinese Communist Party’s decision to allow families to have up to three children was encouraging for the stock.

However, Davies said it would be “drawing a long bow” to attribute the share price rise to those developments given the stock was due a rebound.

Meridian Energy rose 2.3% to $5.35. Davies said heavy rainfall in the South Island could be beneficial for the firm as it generates a significant amount of power from hydro sources.

IkeGPS shares declined 0.9% to $1.06. Yesterday afternoon, the company said it was closing a record number of contracts after the pandemic disrupted the first and third quarters of financial year 2021.

Mobile marketing firm Plexure jumped 6.7% to 80 cents after it signed a deal with Pita Pit NZ to consolidate its physical and virtual brands - two delivery-only outlets named Bowl’d and Egg’d - into one single mobile app.

PaySauce shares were up 7.7% at 28 cents after it acquired another payroll firm for almost $400,000 of new shares, increasing its customer base by 45%.

The kiwi dollar was trading at 72.85 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 72.52 cents yesterday.

The trade-weighted index was at 75.38 at 3pm, from 75.21 yesterday. The kiwi traded at 93.82 Australian cents from 93.88 cents, 79.70 yen from 79.56 yen, 59.56 euro cents from 59.44 cents, 51.15 British pence from 51.08 pence, and 4.6371 Chinese yuan from 4.6157 yuan.

Tags: Market Close