New Zealand shares rallied yesterday with global markets after positive leads from the US, with the local market led by Kathmandu Holdings and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group.
The S&P/NZX50 Index rose 39.88 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 7348.3. Within the index, 32 stocks rose, 11 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $121.7 million.
Kathmandu led the index, up 4.3 per cent to $1.93. Last week, the retailer said its annual profit rose as much as 67 per cent on fatter margins. Net profit was between $33m and $34m in the 12 months ended July 31, up from $20.4m a year earlier and within Kathmandu's upgraded June guidance of between $32m and $35m. The stock has gained 11 per cent since the June announcement.
"They've come closer to the end of the financial year so there's a bit more confidence around what they've seen within their business, and they've changed the way they approach sales programmes, particularly in these key sales periods they have," said Craig Stent, director at Harbour Asset Management. The dual-listed banks advanced as the S&P/ASX 200 outpaced the local index, up 0.8 per cent at 5pm New Zealand time yesterday. ANZ gained 2.6 per cent to $27.49 and Westpac Banking Corp rose 1.8 per cent to $32.60.
"The general market's positive with what happened on Wall Street on Friday their time - job numbers came out and looked pretty strong, probably surprising everyone, the US markets are up about 1 per cent so there's follow on from that in our region," Stent said.
