NZX50 climbs 1.1% in earnings season flurry
Retirement village operators paced gains as BNZ trimmed some of its longer-dated mortgage rates.
Thursday, February 26th 2026, 5:43PM
by Paul McBeth
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index gained in a busy day for earnings as Sky Network Television, Heartland Group Holdings and NZX rallied on their stronger-than-expected results, while Precinct Properties NZ and Air New Zealand were dealt a more turbulent hand.
Retirement village operators Summerset Group Holdings and Ryman Healthcare advanced after Bank of New Zealand followed Westpac NZ’s lead in cutting some of its longer-dated mortgage rates, while firms remained relatively upbeat in the latest ANZ business outlook survey.
Tech stocks were broadly stronger after chipmaker Nvidia beat analysts’ earnings expectations, with Gentrack and Serko joining a rally in Australia led by homegrown software giant Xero.
And Taiko Critical Minerals will join the local stock market next week in the second listing of the year after Rua Gold’s strong debut this week, with the would-be gold miner extending its rally today.
Buoyant mood
The NZX50 rose 145.13 points, or 1.1%, to 13,670.71, with 32 stocks gaining, 11 falling and seven unchanged. Turnover across the main board was $133.2 million, of which Fisher & Paykel Healthcare accounted for $17.6 million as it advanced 2.2% to $41.
Retirement village operators were among those pacing the benchmark index higher after the BNZ followed Westpac in trimming some of its longer-dated mortgages. Summerset rose 4.2% to $10.71 ahead of its annual result on Friday, while Ryman advanced 5.1% to $2.48. Oceania Healthcare declined 1.2% to 81 cents.
The kiwi dollar rose to 60.01 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 59.75 cents yesterday after the ANZ business confidence survey showed firms remained upbeat about the prospects for the economy, albeit with a little less enthusiasm than in previous surveys.
“The survey responses after the RBNZ meeting were better than those before” when the Reserve Bank played down the prospects for interest rates to rise before the end of the year, said Greg Smith, investment specialist at Generate Investment Management. “The BNZ has dropped their three-year rate below 5% which is pretty encouraging.”
Sky TV rose 3.4% to $3.36 after beating analysts’ expectations lifting first-half earnings 29% as the acquisition of the free-to-air Discovery NZ TV business boosted revenue as the pay-TV operator kept a firm grip on its costs.
NZX gained 4.2% to $1.50 after annual earnings rose 12% to $53.6 million, beating expectations, with the stock market operator forecasting growth of as much as 8.4% in the current year.
Would-be West Coast miner Taiko Critical Minerals had its direct listing approved today and will join the stock exchange on March 5 at a reference price of 11 cents per share, hot on the heels of gold explorer Rua Gold, which enjoyed a strong debut this week. Rua Gold climbed 5.3% to $1.80 today.
Local tech stocks were stronger after chipmaker Nvidia beat earnings expectations after trading on Wall Street closed, with the world’s most valuable public company almost doubling its quarterly earnings as it notched up record sales for a fourth quarter in a row.
Gentrack jumped 7.6% to $8.18, leading gainers on the NZX50, while Serko advanced 2.6% to $1.95 and Vista Group International gained 1.8% to $1.705. Data centre investor Infratil increased 0.8% to $10.95.
Stocks across Asia were mixed as investors had a muted response to Nvidia’s result while software giant Salesforce fell short of expectations. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.5% in late trading as Xero led a rally among tech companies and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.5%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.4%.
Something to be desired
Precinct Properties posted the biggest decline on the NZX50 as it fell 3.1% to $1.11 after reporting a dip in first-half adjusted funds from operations and said it’s negotiating with a potential partner to buy half of the PwC Tower in Auckland’s downtown Commercial Bay area.
Heartland Group Holdings dipped 0.8% to $1.25 after the financial services firm’s underlying first-half profit surged on fewer bad debts as the lender’s asset quality improved and as net interest margins widened.
Air New Zealand declined 1.7% to 56.5 cents after the national carrier said it’s reviewing its business to address the rising costs after reporting a wider first-half loss than it had forecast. The carrier was the most heavily traded stock on the day with a volume of 6.2 million shares changing hands.
Across the Tasman, Qantas Airways was plunged 9.4% after missing expectations for its dividend and earnings.
NZME rose 0.4% to $1.175 on an unusually large volume of 1.9 million shares, with a single trade of 1.7 million changing hands at $1.15 a share. The media group returned to profit when reporting its annual result earlier this week, with Forsyth Barr analysts trimming their spot valuation 3 cents to $1.16.
Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.
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