Rebound in property stocks helps lift NZ sharemarket
The New Zealand sharemarket had a late bounce on a quiet day and was helped along by a rebound in the property stocks.
Tuesday, March 5th 2024, 6:37PM
by BusinessDesk
The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday low of 11,658.13 and climbed to positive territory by the end of the day, gaining 28.8 points or 0.25% to 11,753.02.
There were 70 gainers and 64 decliners on the main board with 33.64 million shares worth $114.42m changing hands.
Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said: “We saw a few price movements and some of them were a backwash from the recent index changes.”
The property sector was up 1.07% on the NZX index. Goodson said Precinct Properties weighting increased in the top 50 following the sale of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s 15% shareholding, and the other property stocks were down-weighted.
“They bounced back after the sell-off the day before. Oceania Healthcare fell out of the MSCI Small Cap Index and it also bounced back from some weakness,” he said.
Oceania Healthcare was up 2c or 3.28% to 63c but is still at a four-year low. Fellow retirement village operators Arvida Group gained 3c or 3.16% to 98c, and Ryman Healthcare was down 14c or 3.05% to $4.45.
In the property sector, Goodman Trust rose 5c or 2.33% to $2.20; Vital Healthcare Trust was up 2.5c to $2.04; Kiwi increased 2c or 2.42% to 84.5c; Investore added 2c or 1.89% to $1.08; and Property for Industry improved 1c to $2.195.
Stride Property, unchanged at $1.26, told the market its Industre Property Joint Venture is developing a five-green star warehouse and office building in Hamilton for $31m and will be leased by an existing Industre tenant for a 15-year term.
Precinct Properties was unchanged at $1.19. Milford Asset Management disclosed it increased its shareholding in Precinct to 5.91%, and Precinct chief executive Scott Pritchard picked up a further 181,818 shares for $199,999 from the Abu Dhabi sale. Pritchard now has 1m shares in the company.
In the United States, the major indices had an off day with the Dow Jones Industrial down 0.25% to 38,989.83 points; S&P 500 declining 0.12% to 5130.95; and Nasdaq Composite shedding 0.41% to 16,207.51.
The February ANZ World Commodity Price Index gained 3.5% with dairy, meat and fibre prices continuing to improve.
Log exporters reported some improved demand from China as building activity lifted following the New Year holiday period. However, log returns are negatively impacted by the lift in global shipping costs.
At home, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare increased 25c to $24.69; Contact Energy was up 12c to $8.30; Meridian gained 9c to $6; Skellerup rose 11c or 2.56% to $4.41; Port of Tauranga added 7c to $5.40; and Napier Port was up 4c to $2.49.
Heartland Group rose 10c or 8.7% to $1.25; Blackpearl Group increased 9c or 18.75% to 57c; Carbon Fund was up 6c or 3.51% to $1.77; and The Warehouse rebounded 4c or 3.1% to $1.33.
Utilities investor Infratil gained 5c to $10.34 after holding an investor day in Sydney. Infratil said its portfolio, valued at $12.65 billion, was well positioned in high-quality platforms in growing sectors.
Wellington airport was emerging strongly from covid and repricing; healthcare businesses were tracking ahead of peers; and CDC datacentre had a record contracting year and was accelerating growth plans.
Goodson said Infratil made no change to its earnings guidance and the presentation showed a reliance on data centres – “they have gone hard down that route.” The digital division, which included One NZ (formerly Vodafone), made up 64% of Infratil’s investment assets.
Mainfreight was down 50c to $67.75; Ebos Group gave up 35c to $36.65; Auckland International Airport shed 13.5c to $8.035; Chorus decreased 8.5c to $7.92; and Synlait Milk declined 3c or 3.9% to 74c.
Serko was down 8c or 1.99% to $3.95; Vital fell 2.5c or 9.8% to 23c; Green Cross Health declined 5c or 4.39% to $1.09; Rakon decreased 4c or 3.08% to $1.26; and TradeWindow shed 1c or 4.88% to 19.5c.
Transport technology firm Eroad declined 2c or 2.47% to 79c after announcing a dual CEO role with David Kenneson joining Mark Heine and concentrating on market growth. Heine will focus on product development.
| « NZ sharemarket down after wobbly trading day | NZ sharemarket turnaround as Mercury Energy hits all-time high » |
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