NZ sharemarket up nearly 0.6%, Vista surges

The New Zealand sharemarket quickly regained its mojo in strong afternoon trading, while Vista Group shrugged off shareholder unrest to climb higher.

Tuesday, October 15th 2024, 6:31PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index picked up at lunchtime and closed at 12,840.77, up 74.02 points or 0.58% and a 1.2% turnaround from the day before.

Trading was healthy, with 29.94 million share transactions worth $125.8m.

David McConnochie, investment adviser with Forsyth Barr, said the local market had a solid day as it waits for further inflation and interest rates direction.

“The yield stocks have some strength, and the market is showing a bit of buoyancy and confidence.”

Bull market

The market had strong leads from Wall Street and Australia, with the S&P/ASX 200 Index up 0.83% to 8,321.1 points at 6pm NZ time.

The bull market in the United States – though interrupted by brief periods of volatility – has completed two years with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, breaking through the 43,000 points level, and S&P 500 indices reaching new highs.

As the third quarter reporting season gets into full swing, the Dow Jones was up 0.47% to 43,065.22 points, and the S&P 500 increased 0.77% to 5,859.85.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.87% to 18,502.69 points, again driven by the Magnificent Seven tech stocks, which together have risen 170% since October 2022.

In that time, the S&P 500 surged by 63%, including a gain of 23% this year. The average return of the first two years of all bull markets since World War II is 60%.

Local stocks

At home, cinema management software firm Vista Group was up 9c or 2.97% to $3.12 and has risen nearly 120% over the past 12 months. A covid casualty, Vista stormed back from $1.23 on April 28 last year.

Fisher Funds, the second largest shareholder with 14.4%, has written to Vista Group saying it does not support the appointment of two Admetus Capital (Potentia)-nominated directors and will not back the removal of current directors Susan Peterson and Kirk Senior.

Potentia has called a special meeting of shareholders to vote on the appointment of its nominated directors – but one of them, Peter James, has withdrawn his name.

Fletcher Building increased 10c or 3.24% to $3.19 after completing its $700m capital raise, and shareholders received their new shares at $2.40 each.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 34c to $37.13; Contact Energy gained 19c or 2.25% to $8.65; Chorus increased 9c to $8.85; Infratil collected 15.5c to $12.345; Scott Technology added 6c or 3.02% to $2.05; and Winton Land was up 10c or 4.69% to $2.23.

Retirement village operators Summerset gained 16c to $12.31, and Ryman Healthcare increased 10c or 2.04% to $4.99.

ANZ was up 66c or 1.96% to $34.26, and Westpac also gained 66c or 1.93% to $34.91.

Auckland International Airport, up 4c to $7.48, reported 1.48m passengers in September, similar to the same month last year, and representing 90% of pre-covid activity. International passengers totalling 806,638 was up 2% and domestic of 673,615 was down 3%.

The airport said much of the domestic weakness was on the Auckland to Wellington route with 14,000 fewer passengers or an 8% decline.

Other gainers were Synlait Milk, up 1.5c or 3.8% to 41c; Comvita, collecting 2c or 1.72% to $1.18; and Burger Fuel, increasing 1.5c or 5.17% to 30.5c.

Gentrack fell 39c or 3.58% to $10.50; Mainfreight decreased 51c to $73; a2 Milk declined 7c to $7.05; Skellerup Holdings shed 10c or 2.17% to $4.51; and PGG Wrightson eased 6c or 3.13% to $1.86.

Meridian Energy was down 2c to $5.85 after reporting that September total inflows were 223% of average, and retail sales volumes were 4.9% lower.

Meridian, which held its annual meeting, said national hydro storage had increased from 99% to 115% by October 7, but it has still been warm and national electricity demand was 5.2% lower.

Other decliners were Serko shedding 9c or 3.16% to $2.76; Being AI down 2c or 3.33% to 58c; ikeGPS falling 3c or 4.76% to 60c; 2 Cheap Cars decreasing 2c or 2.6% to 75c; Ventia Services easing 9c to $5.16; and Pacific Edge down 0.006c or 3.73% to 15.5c.

Smartpay was down 14c or 14.07% to 85.5c after telling the market it is engaged with the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is reviewing debit card surcharging rules and possible changes.

Arvida Group, which New York-based investment firm Stonepeak has taken over, will be removed from the NZX 50 on Oct 22 and will be replaced by Kiwi insurer Tower, unchanged at $1.36.

Investment Funds Marlin Global, up 2c or 2.2% to 93; Barramundi, down 1c to 67c; and Kingfish, down 2c to $1.27, told the market they were resuming their buy-back (shares) programme.

Tags: Market Close