Mercury leads NZ sharemarket higher as Aucklanders enjoy Anniversary Day public holiday

Mercury NZ shares gained on a quiet day's trading. Photo / Andrew Warner

Blue-chip utility stocks had a strong trading day and powered the New Zealand sharemarket to a handy gain for the the new week.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed at 11,911.89, up 36.86 points or 0.31 per cent after reaching an intraday low of 11,853.49.

Volumes were lighter than normal with many market participants instead enjoying the Auckland Anniversary Day holiday. There were 72 gainers and 58 decliners on the main board with 13.6 million shares worth $61.16m changing hands.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the local market opened lower after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite in the United States snapped a six-day winning streak.

“But we saw an uplift with the Australian market playing catch-up after its anniversary day holiday on Friday. All eyes are now on the reporting seasons, with the technology stocks in the US due to report and ours begins in two weeks,” Sullivan said.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Index was up 0.16 per cent to 38,109.43 points; S&P 500 was down 0.065 per cent to 4890.97; and Nasdaq declined 0.36 per cent to 15,455.36.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.3 per cent to 7578.3 points at 6pm NZ time.

Hong Kong-listed Evergrande, China’s largest construction company, was ordered to liquidate and fell 20.87 per cent to HK$16 ($3.35). Evergrande sent shockwaves through global financial markets two years ago when it defaulted on its bonds.

Evergrande now has US$325 billion worth of liabilities and the Hong Kong court decision comes at a time when the Chinese are attempting to curb a sharemarket sell-off.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng index had risen 0.94 per cent to 16,102.02 points at 6pm NZ time but since the start of the year it has fallen more than 10 per cent. Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong are trading at the largest discount to mainland peers in 15 years.

Chinese policymakers are looking at injecting 2 trillion yuan (US$278b) into the market, mainly from offshore accounts of Chinese state-owned enterprises.

The surging Indian sharemarket’s capitalisation of US$4.33 trillion overtook Hong Kong’s for the first time, and is now running fourth behind United States, Mainland China and Japan.

At home, the utilities Mercury Energy increased 18c or 2.77 per cent to $6.68; Meridian was up 10c or 1.79 per cent to $5.70; Chorus rose 22c or 2.86 per cent to $7.97; Auckland International Airport gained 12.5c to $8.59; and Infratil added 17c to $10.87.

Ebos Group was up 62c or 1.72 per cent to $36.77, Freightways increased 21c or 2.48 per cent to $8.68; Summerset Group added 7c to $10.87; and a2 Milk attracted another broker upgrade, gaining 5c to $5.05.

Other gainers were Scott Technology, up 6c or 1.88 per cent to $3.25; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ increasing 4c or 2.13 per cent to $1.92; Green Cross Health rising 6c or 5.17 per cent to $1.22; Investore improving 4c or 3.42 per cent to $1.21; and Napier Port adding 4c to $2.50.

Debt-laden Synlait Milk, looking to strengthen its balance sheet, fell to a new 20-year low after declining 2c or 2.33 per cent to 84c. Synlait’s peak share price was $12.80 on August 1, 2018.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 25c to $23.70; Spark declined 14c or 2.59 per cent to $5.255; Fletcher Building shed 5c to $4.72; PGG Wrightson decreased 6c or 1.9 per cent to $3.09; and Comvita shed 4c to $2.26.

Amongst the retailers, Briscoe was down 5c to $4.55, and The Warehouse declined 3c or 1.86 per cent to $1.58.

Vulcan Steel declined 20c or 2.47 per cent to $7.90; Steel & Tube shed 3c or 2.59 per cent $1.13; Channel Infrastructure gave up 3c or 2.04 per cent to $1.44; Foley Wines was down 2c or 1.77 per cent to $1.11; NZ Oil & Gas decreased 1.5c or 3.8 per cent to 38c; and CDL Investments was down 2c or 2.5 per cent to 78c.

Chatham Rock Phosphate, unchanged at 16c, told the market it has raised nearly $400,000 through a non-brokered private placement of 4.62m units at 8.6c a unit.