New Zealand shares gained at the start of a shortened trading week as investors took the opportunity to buy blue-chip stocks such as Telecom, SkyCity Entertainment Group and Contact Energy.
BUSINESSDESK: New Zealand shares gained at the start of a shortened trading week as investors took the opportunity to buy blue-chip stocks such as Telecom, SkyCity Entertainment Group and Contact Energy.
The NZX 50 Index rose 7.12 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3475.1. Within the index, 20 stocks gained, 17 fell and 13 were unchanged. Turnover was a smaller than normal $67.8 million.
The local stock market bucked regional weakness as Asian and Australian equities declined after soft US jobs figures pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1 percent yesterday.
“The local market put in a very good performance today, despite weakness on the Dow Jones,” said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. “There was some demand for a couple of blue-chip stocks” which helped underpin the market’s gains, he said.
SkyCity rose 1.8 percent to $3.92, Telecom gained 1.6 percent to $2.47 and Contact advanced 0.6 percent to $4.69, leading the index higher.
Fletcher Building, the biggest listed construction company, fell 1 percent to $6.14, bucking the trend among index heavyweights.
Williamson said analysts have been reassessing their outlook for the construction company, indicating the stock may be overpriced after continued delays to Christchurch’s rebuild. Still, that forecast activity leaves the company pretty well-placed, he said.
Speculation in the Australian Financial Review that Fletcher may be looking to buy ASX-listed building products maker CSR would go down less well with investors this soon after its Crane Group purchase last year, Williamson said.
Shares in Ryman Healthcare rose 0.6 percent to a record-high $3.15 today, valuing the company at $1.58 billion. The company was valued at $135 million when it made its initial public offer in 1999.
Williamson said the stock “continues to go from strength to strength” and is viewed as a good “defensive growth option.”
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which makes breathing respirators and gets more than half its revenue in US dollars, rose 0.9 percent to $2.33 after the New Zealand dollar pared gains in local trading after China unexpectedly posted a trade surplus for the month of March. The currency traded at 82.01 US cents at 5pm.
Shares in Heartland New Zealand dropped 4 percent to 48 cents, the biggest decline on the index, after the lender’s chief financial officer Sean Kam announced his resignation. Separately, the would-be bank reported third-quarter operating profit of $5.3 million, topping the $3.6 million it achieved in the first six months of the financial year.
Shares in New Zealand Experience, which operates the Rainbow’s End amusement park, were unchanged at 40 cents apiece after the company said it would spend $3.5 million upgrading its ‘Castle Land’ area for young children in a bid to boost medium term profitability.
NZF Group was unchanged at 0.6 cents after the financial services firm said it would seek to overturn an interim freezing order on its assets. The firm is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office over a series of transactions between its members, directors and officers from July 2006.
