MARKET CLOSE: Shares rise after selloff; Summerset gains on guidance
S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed 26.56 points, or 0.5%, to 5803.18.
S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed 26.56 points, or 0.5%, to 5803.18.
New Zealand shares rose, clawing back some of Monday's selloff on relief that concern about Greece's debt crisis didn't overly rattle Wall Street. Summerset Group led gainers after giving guidance that beat estimates. Westpac Banking Corp and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group advanced.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed 26.56 points, or 0.5%, to 5803.18. Within the index, 30 stocks rose, 17 fell and three were unchanged. Turnover was $165 million.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.4% on Monday, a more modest fall than the 1.2% drop in Europe's Stoxx 600 Index. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has indicated a deal with creditors is still possible after the resignation of finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who had got offside with some euro ministers. Investors are also watching developments in China after Beijing announced emergency measures to stem its stock market slide.
"At the moment the New Zealand market does seem to be following offshore leads," said Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "Today's bounceback is that the US market didn't really show too much concern about the Greek situation. Yesterday people were liquidating their positions but buyers are back in the market today."
Summerset climbed 4.8% to $3.71 after the nation's third-largest retirement village operator said annual earnings may rise as much as 39% as it benefits from record sales of units. It achieved a record 110 resales in the six months ended June 30, as well as 160 new sales.
Williamson said Summerset's guidance was about 10% above expectations and the company was "performing very well."
Metlifecare rose 1.3% to $4.66 and Ryman Healthcare, the biggest of the listed retirement village operators, gained 1% to $7.95.
Westpac climbed 3.7% to $37.63 and ANZ Bank rose 3.1% to $36.90, tracking Australian stocks higher after the S&P/ASX 200 Index rallied by 1.8%.
Pacific Edge, the bladder cancer test developer, gained 3.3% to 63c.
Vital Healthcare gained 2.5% to $1.66, leading gains among property investors on expectations interest rates will remain low, making reliable dividend paying stocks more appealing.
DNZ Property Fund rose 1.7% to $2.08 and Property for Industry climbed 1.6% to $1.56.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which gets about half its sales in US dollars, climbed 1.3% to $7.14 as the kiwi dollar held near a five-year low against the greenback.
Xero, the cloud-based accounting software company, fell 3.3% to $17.65, the biggest decline on the NZX 50 Index. NZX, the stock market operator, fell 2.8% to $1.03 and Mainfreight declined 1.5% to $15.46.
Kathmandu, the subject of a takeover offer from rival retailer Briscoe Group, fell 1.2% to $1.63. Briscoe dropped 1.8% to $2.75.
(BusinessDesk)