NZX50 enjoys best month since September as Infratil surges

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index posted its best month since September last year as Vista Group International hit a four-month high having secured new customers for its cloud service, while Infratil surged as a major contract marked a step change for its CDC data centre investment.

The local benchmark was led higher on Friday by Tourism Holdings as the rental campervan operator received a new offer from suitor Luke Trouchet and BGH Capital in a heavy day of trading as institutional investors rejigged their portfolios to match the latest reweighting of MSCI indices.

Stock markets across Asia were stronger on Friday on optimism of an extended ceasefire between the US and Iran, pending agreement by President Donald Trump, with oil prices easing and government bond yields falling.

And while a flurry of earnings rolled in before the end of the month, ANZ’s latest consumer and business confidence surveys showed households and firms weren’t quite as gloomy in May as they were in April.

Darling buds of May

The NZX50 rose 38.44 points, or 0.3%, to 13,244.55 on Friday, taking its monthly gain to 2.6%, the most since September last year. The index advanced 2% for the week.

Vista led the benchmark higher as it surged 38% in the month after signing the two biggest Mexican cinema chains to its cloud analytics product, while Infratil jumped 26% after its CDC business signed a transformational customer earlier in the month.

The NZX50 joined a rally across Asia on Friday as investors welcomed the prospect of an extension to the US-Iran ceasefire, with Brent crude oil futures down 1% at US$91.76 a barrel at 5pm, while the kiwi dollar held its gains trading at 59.59 US cents from 58.68 cents yesterday.

Within the index, there were 35 gainers on Friday, 11 decliners, and four stocks unchanged. Turnover across the main board was $638.1 million in an extended match session to allow for investors to tweak their portfolios in line with the latest MSCI index reweightings.

The S&P/NZX 20 index futures contract for June was unchanged at 7,505 with 100 lots traded for a value of $751,000. The NZX20 rose 0.2% to 7,508.58.

More than a handful

Infratil dipped 0.7% to $15.76 on a turnover of $116 million, while Auckland International Airport rose 0.7% to $8.27 with $115 million traded. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 1.3% to $37.29 with $83.5 million of shares traded, Contact Energy increased 0.5% to $9.54 on a turnover of $83.1 million and Meridian Energy rose 0.5% to $5.86 with $80.6 million traded.

Tourism Holdings led the benchmark higher on Friday, climbing 20% to $2.65 after the Trouchet family and BGH relaunched its pursuit of the firm with a non-binding indicative offer of $3.10 a share, up from the rejected $2.30 bid made last year. The rental campervan operator separately downgraded its earnings outlook.

Retailers were broadly stronger after the latest ANZ Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey showed pessimism among households eased somewhat in May, while the sister business outlook report showed an improvement in the mood among firms.

“This partial rebound in confidence was about what we expected given developments over the last month,” Westpac NZ senior economist Michael Gordon said in a note on the business outlook survey. “Concerns about a shortage of fuel have not been realised: fuel stocks have remained ample and shipments continue to arrive, albeit at a price.”

KMD Brands jumped 14%, or 1 cent, to 8.3 cents on Friday, while Briscoe Group advanced 6.1% to $4.70 and Hallenstein Glasson Holdings advanced 1.2% to $9.95. Outside the benchmark, Warehouse Group fell 2.4% to 62 cents and Michael Hill International gained 2.6% to 40 cents.

Channel Infrastructure posted the steepest fall on the day, down 2.8% at $3.16, while Napier Port dipped 2.1% to $3.68 and a2 Milk Co slipped 2.1% to $6.55. Vista fell 1.2% to $2.59 on Friday.

Outside the benchmark there was a flurry of earnings, with Green Cross Health climbing 4.5% to $1.50 after reporting a 28% lift in annual net profit and Trade Window Holdings unchanged at 22 cents as its annual recurring revenue passed $10 million for the first time.

Auto firm 2 Cheap Cars slipped 1.6% to 61 cents as its annual profit dipped, and ikeGPS increased 0.9% to $1.165 as it achieved positive underlying earnings in the month of March.

Foley Wines sank 8.5% to 43 cents after saying its harvest was smaller than the prior year.

And late in the day, before the long weekend for King’s Birthday holiday, ANZ New Zealand said it filed an appeal of the summary judgment ordered against it in the loan disclosure representative action.

Reporting by Paul McBeth.