Infratil powers NZX 50 to all-time high in quiet school holiday trading
Bremworth’s biggest shareholder has some bad news for the board.
Monday, July 6th 2026, 6:11PM
by Paul McBeth
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index was one of the stronger performers in Asian markets: as it closed at a record, with Infratil driving local gains on an uplift in the valuation of its CDC data centre investment.
Vista Group International rallied after Forsyth Barr analysts reaffirmed their ‘outperform’ rating on the company after a solid US box office in June and a series of customer conversions to its cloud product.
Carpet maker Bremworth posted its steepest one-day slide in almost six years after its biggest shareholder said it would oppose the proposed sale of the business to rival Godfrey Hirst's parent.
And would-be miner Tāiko Critical Minerals halted trading of its shares for the placement component of a $10 million capital raising, having secured a $20 million loan from the government to help build a separation plant on the West Coast.
Data driven
The NZX 50 jumped 144.68 points, or 1.1%, to 13,763.1, with 31 stocks gaining, 11 declining and eight unchanged. The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for September gained 0.6% to 7,702 with 20 lots traded for a value of $154,000, while the NZX 20 advanced 1.2% to 7,796.35.
Turnover across the main board was $127.5 million, of which Infratil accounted for $12.6 million as the infrastructure investor climbed 2% to $15.42 after an independent valuation of its CDC business jumped 24% in the June quarter to a mid-point of A$18.5 billion.
Heavyweight Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 1.6% to $40.35, adding another tailwind to the local bourse in a mixed day across Asia, as Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index dipped 0.1% in late trading and Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.4%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8%.
“The sector rotation has probably been good for New Zealand as people get out of AI and into more conservative sectors,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners.
Vista led the NZX 50 higher, jumping 6.5% to $2.45 after Forsyth Barr’s James Lindsay and Georgio Toulis reaffirmed their ‘outperform’ rating on the stock and maintained their target price at $3.41, saying the company’s rally from its March lows “materially” de-risked its path to meeting 2026 guidance.
“Despite the recent re-rating, we continue to view the risk-reward positively,” Lindsay and Toulis said in a note to clients.
Hungry for cash
The a2 Milk Co advanced 2.8%, or 25 cents, to $9.35, even after shedding rights to a 41.36 cents per share special dividend, and Mainfreight rose 1%, or 61 cents, to $64.29 as it went ex-dividend on an upcoming payment of 87 cents per share.
Ebos Group gained 2.4% to $21.59. Craigs’ McIntyre said Australian healthcare companies had been recovering from their dramatic sell-off and Ebos was benefitting from that.
Gentrack posted the biggest decline on the NZX 50, falling 1.8% to $3.75, while Argosy Property slipped 1.4% to $1.03 with almost 5.1 million shares traded in the heaviest trading of the day. Tourism Holdings declined 1.4% to $2.90.
Retailers were mixed after ANZ’s latest card spending data showed a 0.1% lift in consumption last month by customers of the country’s biggest bank.
Briscoe Group rose 1.9% to $4.74, while Hallenstein Glasson Holdings slipped 0.6% to $9.94 and KMD Brands decreased 0.6% to $1.75.
Outside the benchmark index, Bremworth sank almost 16% to 75 cents after the carpetmaker’s biggest shareholder, the Ferrier family and associates holding 19.4%, said they would vote against a scheme of arrangement to sell the business to Mohawk Industries for $51.8 million. A second shareholder with 2.4% also said it would oppose the scheme.
The tightly held Winton Land slipped 1.4% to $1.38 after controlling shareholder Chris Meehan stepped down as chief executive and chair with immediate effect amid a board-led employment process unrelated to the property developer’s performance or financial reporting. Meehan will stay on the board and consult to the company on major developments as required, while Steven Joyce was elected chair.
Tāiko Critical Minerals halted trading of its shares – last at 29.5 cents – to raise $5 million in a placement to wholesale investors at 25 cents a share, with oversubscriptions of up to $2 million. It will raise another $3 million in a share purchase plan at the same price.
The would-be miner secured a government loan of up to $20 million through the Regional Infrastructure Fund to help finance a separation plant on the West Coast.
The kiwi dollar fell to 56.89 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 57.13 cents last week as traders look toward the Reserve Bank policy review on Wednesday.
Bond markets are pricing in better-than-even odds the central bank will raise the official cash rate a quarter-point to 2.5%, while economists are more circumspect on whether policymakers will go now and wait until September.
Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.
| « NZX 50 gains this week as Mainfreight, Scales navigate Middle East tensions |
Special Offers
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Sign In to add your comment
|
|
Printable version |
|
Email to a friend |
