Infratil snapped an eight-day losing streak as data centres heat up.
Infratil led the S&P/NZX 50 higher as the infrastructure investor snapped an eight-day decline to mark its best daily gain since mid-April as investors regained their appetite for data centres following the BlackRock-led US$40 billion purchase of a data centre business in Texas.
Commercial landlords such as Stride Property and Argosy Property recovered some of the recent losses when investors sold to participate in Precinct Properties NZ’s $310 million capital raising, and as the yield on New Zealand’s 10-year government bond dipped below 4% for the first time in two-and-a-half years.
Power companies were broadly weaker after Mercury NZ’s latest update joined the chorus of hydro dams being flush with water.
And the NZX’s latest listing Uvre jumped 16% in its debut, with the junior miner joining a rally among resources companies on both sides of the Tasman as the gold price continues to push higher.
Powering up
The NZX50 climbed 81.7 points, or 0.6%, to 13,389.1, with 24 stocks gaining, 18 declining and eight unchanged. Turnover across the main board was $149.8 million, of which Fisher & Paykel Healthcare accounted for $19.6 million as it rose 2% to $36.47.
Infratil led the benchmark index higher, up almost 5% at $12.50 on a turnover of $19.2 million, after saying its CDC data centre business announced a new 40 megawatt contract to support an artificial intelligence centre in Sydney.
That followed a US$40 billion sale by Macquarie Asset Management of its Texas-based Aligned Data Centres to a consortium led by investment giant BlackRock.
“It is all real and the data centres being built out have real demand,” said Greg Smith, investment specialist at Generate Investment Management. “It’s not all hot air like the dotcom boom.”
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.8% in late trading as softer jobs data than anticipated raised expectations for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut its target cash rate, while a continuation of the rally in gold prices spurred on mining stocks.
Against that backdrop, junior gold miner Uvre made its debut on the NZX, with a 16% jump to 32.5 cents for its secondary listing. It was up 10% at 27.5 Australian cents in late trading on the ASX.
Stock market operator NZX was unchanged at $1.51. Separately, the stock market operator said wealth technologies head Lisa Turnbull will take over as chief of the Smart funds management unit.
Meanwhile, Santana Minerals climbed 7% to $1.075 and Manuka Resources nudged up 0.9% to 11.3 cents.
Commercial landlords helped pace gains on the NZX50, bouncing back from the selloff earlier this week when institutional investors made room in their portfolios to participate in a $285 million discounted placement for Precinct Properties NZ – which rose 1.6% to $1.25 – with Investore Property gaining 4.9% to $1.28, Vital Healthcare up 3.2% at $2.23, Stride Property Group advancing 3.2% to $1.45 and Argosy Property increasing 2.4% to $1.26.
The reliable dividends on offer from the property stocks were also made more attractive by the rally in bonds, as the yield on 10-year government bonds fell 4 basis points to 4%, having peeked below that level for the first time since early 2023.
Hungry for rate cuts
The kiwi dollar rose to 57.40 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 57.13 cents at 7am and 57.21 cents yesterday after Statistics New Zealand figures showed a slowing in the annual pace of food price inflation ahead of next week’s September quarter consumers price index.
The a2 Milk Co rose 1.2% to $10.70. European luxury companies rallied overnight with LVMH surging 12% as its quarterly sales showed increased demand from Chinese consumers, a key market for the local infant formula firm.
Power companies were broadly weaker after Mercury NZ said it recorded record generation in July with strong inflows into its hydro schemes in the September quarter. Mercury slipped 0.8% to $6.39, while Meridian Energy fell 1.5% to $5.80 and Genesis Energy declined 1.6% to $2.46 after holding its annual meeting. Contact Energy was unchanged at $9.01.
Outside the benchmark index, Comvita gained 4.6% to 79.5 cents amid reports that co-founder Alan Bougen was rallying support to oppose the 80 cents per share takeover recommended by the board. The honey products company said it hasn’t been approached by Bougen with an alternative funding proposal.
PGG Wrightson fell 1.2% to $2.40 after the board appointed returning independent director John Nichol as chair, and said Agria still supports the company and voted out Garry Moore and Sarah Brown to refresh the board.
Reporting by Paul McBeth.
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