Market close: Covid-battered stocks make strong headway

SkyCity Entertainment rose 16c or 4.78 per cent to $3.51. Photo / 123RF

The re-opening stocks – those battered by the Covid pandemic – continued to make strong headway as the more confident New Zealand sharemarket posted its sixth successive day of rises.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index gained 96.79 points or 0.77 per cent to 12,689.05, after reaching an intraday low of 12,584.85. There were 83 gainers and 61 decliners with 50.4 million shares worth $200.76 million changing hands.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said it was a day investors were willing to take risks and pay for re-opening stocks. Some of them are having strong runs.

He said the markets are keenly awaiting the latest US Federal Reserve statement overnight. "Governor Jerome Powell's comments, especially concerning the sharp rise in long-term bond yields, will determine the direction of the markets.

"Also, there are a number of changes, inclusions and exclusions, taking place in New Zealand, Australian and other indices by the end of the week. The three biggest inclusions are Infratil, Pacific Edge and Skellerup Holdings in the FTSE Russell Global index. Whether they have been fully anticipated, we won't know until 5pm Friday, but there will be heavy trading," said Goodson.

The re-opening stocks SkyCity Entertainment rose 12c to $3.47 after reaching $2.87 on February 17; Tourism Holdings gained a further 3c to $2.38; Serko was up 30c to $6.18; and Vista Group increased 5c or 2.59 per cent to $1.98, after sitting at $1.69 on March 8.

Auckland International Airport continued its good run, rising 7c to $7.77.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare also continued its resurgence, gaining 82c to $31.20 on trade worth $12.5m.

Ebos Group was up 63c to $29.35; Chorus increased 18c to $7.95; and Freightways gained 5c to $11.10.

Tilt Renewables, under takeover offer from Mercury Energy and Powering Australian Renewables (PowAR) at $7.80 a share, increased 4c to $7.65. Mercury would own five New Zealand wind farms, with two others proposed, and PowAR would secure 11 Australian wind farms with one more proposed.

Infratil, which owns 65.5 per cent of Tilt Renewables, fell 8.5c to $7.375, and Mercury rose 18c or 2.99 per cent to $6.21.

Goodson said Mercury is buying the New Zealand assets at a fair price and will provide the company with long-term generation. Infratil's share price was down despite doing well in the Tilt sale, and any takeover by AustralianSuper seems less likely, considering the price the fund will have to pay.

Briscoe Group, owner of Rebel Sport and Briscoes Homeware, surged 31c to $5.81, after reporting record sales and profit for the full-year ending January. Revenue increased 7.5 per cent to $701.8m, net profit rose 17 per cent to $73.2m, and online sales grew 79.65 per cent, making up 18.82 per cent of revenue. Briscoe is paying a final dividend of 13.5c a share on March 31.

Goodson said Briscoe provided an extremely strong result and strong margins. The question mark for retailers is how much of the year's earnings are super-normal and will they be repeated?

Other gainers were Summerset Group Holdings increasing 12c to $13.20; Ryman Healthcare up 2c to $15.82; Synlait Milk picking up 9c to $3.89; Scales Corporation rising 2c to $4.45; Z Energy gaining 2c to $2.79; NZ King Salmon Investments collecting 4c or 2.76 per cent to $1.49; and Harmoney up 4c or 1.77 per cent to $2.30.

Amongst the decliners, a2 Milk was down 10c to $9.42; Fletcher Building declined 9c to $7.01; Property for Industry decreased 4c to $2.77, and water cooler supplier Just Life fell 9c or 10.11 per cent to 80c.

New Zealand Rural Land Company gained 5c or 4.39 per cent to $1.19 after buying a 456ha Southland dairy farm for $10.73m. The farm will be leased by Fortuna Group from the June 1 settlement at a rental of $515,667 a year, representing a 4.97 yield for NZ Rural. The new listing says more South Island purchases will follow.