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MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares mixed; Heartland rises to record, Warehouse drops on NZX 50 exit

Sophie Boot
Mon, 13 Mar 2017

New Zealand shares were mixed, with Heartland Bank hitting a record and Sky Network Television gaining, while Warehouse Group dropped after news it will leave the benchmark index.

The S&P/NZX50 Index gained 17.2 points, or 0.2%, to 7,194.79. Within the index, 28 stocks fell, 15 rose and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $120 million.

"We've bucked the trend a little bit today, Australia is trading lower but we're up. A couple of our larger stocks are trading firmer get our index in the positive - Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, where obviously the weakness in the kiwi dollar is creating some buying interest in that stock, and Spark," says Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

F&P Healthcare gained 2.3% to $9.80, while Spark New Zealand rose 2% to $3.65.

Sky TV was the best performer, up 3.5% to $3.84. The stock dropped after Sky's proposed merger with Vodafone NZ was declined by the Commerce Commission last month, and investors are doing some bargain hunting today, Williamson says.

SkyCity Entertainment Group rose 2.4% to $4.20.

"It has been quietly improving since it came out with its result back in February, It wasn't much to smile about but the stock has been quite weak," Williamson says.

Heartland Bank gained 1.9% to an all-time high $1.62. It has completed $40 million of capital raising after its discounted share purchase plan closed more than three times oversubscribed. The lender raised $20 million selling shares to existing investors at $1.46 apiece, saying the offer would be scaled back because it received applications for $62 million of shares. 

"A few shareholders will be a little disappointed with the results of the capital raising as they're not getting as much so they're topping up on market to get their stakes back up," Williamson says. "It's been a pretty impressive performer."

Summerset Group was the worst performer on the index, down 3.3% to $5.22, while Goodman Property Trust dropped 2.5% to $1.195 and NZX fell 1.8% to $1.07.

Warehouse dipped 0.4% to $2.48. It will leave the NZX50 Index when it rebalances on March 20, to be replaced by Sanford.

"Obviously it's trading pretty low on a historical basis, it has been failing to meet expectations and investors will be pretty disappointed with its performance. It seems to always be undertaking restructuring but there's still a long road to go," Williamson says. 

Outside the benchmark index, Energy Mad was placed in a trading halt at 2.4c pending an announcement. The shares have dropped 27% in the past 12 months.

(BusinessDesk)

 

Sophie Boot
Mon, 13 Mar 2017
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MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares mixed; Heartland rises to record, Warehouse drops on NZX 50 exit
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