Fisher & Paykel Healthcare does heavy lifting on sharemarket - Market close

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare – the biggest influencer on the NZX - increased 40c or 1.67 per cent to $24.35.

Heavyweight Fisher & Paykel Healthcare had a strong rise and led the New Zealand sharemarket to its highest level in nearly six months.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index traded consistently until a late dip in the matching session and closed at 11,931.23, up 14.45 points or 0.12 per cent – after reaching 11,934.24 on August 7 last year. The index climbed nearly 0.5 per cent for the week.

There were 87 gainers and 46 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 26.37 million share transactions worth $87.54 million.

Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer with Octagon Asset Management, said the local market was feeling a bit more bullish.

“It had an okay lead from Wall Street but the rises locally are quite widespread with a couple of laggards like a2 Milk and SkyCity being re-rated,” he said.

“The reporting season (this month) is going to be tricky. We’ve already had some downgrades and I think the market is looking beyond that and is cautiously optimistic.”

It was another strong day in the United States as the economy continues to show resilience. Gross domestic product grew 3.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, much higher than the market expectation of 2 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.97 per cent to 38,519.84 points; S&P 500 increased 1.25 per cent to 4906.19; and Nasdaq Composite rose 1.3 per cent to 15,361.64. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 are both carving out record highs.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was streaking to another record close, after gaining 1.41 per cent to 7695.1 points at 6pm NZ time.

At home, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare – the biggest influencer on the market - increased 40c or 1.67 per cent to $24.35. Its Australian competitor ResMed has been having a strong run after reporting a 12 per cent increase in revenue to A$1.2 billion ($1.28b) for the second quarter.

SkyCity rebounded a further 14c or 6.97 per cent to $2.15, following a steady 18-month decline from $2.96 on August 24, 2022.

Chorus was up 10c to $7.965; Gentrack gained 14c or 2.12 per cent to $6.74; a2 Milk added 8c to $5.35; Port of Tauranga collected 11c or 2.06 per cent to $5.44; Turners Automotive improved 11c or 2.42 per cent to $4.66; and Westpac Bank increased 58c or 2.29 per cent to $25.90.

Green Cross Health increased 8c or 6.61 per cent to $1.29; PGG Wrightson gained 9c or 2.89 per cent to $3.20; NZX collected 2c or 1.9 per cent to $1.07; NZME was up 2c or 1.98 per cent to $1.03; Cooks Coffee rose 3.5c or 15.91 per cent to 25.5c; Eroad improved 2c or 2.2 per cent to 93c; and Serko was up 9c or 2.14 per cent to $4.29.

Briscoe Group was down 2c to $4.50 after reporting record sales of $792m for the 12 months ending January 28, up 0.78 per cent on the previous year. The expected net profit of more than $83m will represent 94 per cent of last year’s record.

For the year ending January 28, Briscoes Homeware sales increased 0.54 per cent, Rebel Sport was up 1.17 per cent and online sales represented 18.72 per cent. The group sales for the second half were $422.7m, up 1.15 per cent on the previous corresponding period.

Robertshawe said Briscoe looks like a high-quality stock compared with its peers. The management has been doing a great job running the business and holding on to margins.

Fellow retailers Hallenstein Glasson gained 15c or 2.76 per cent to $5.58, and Michael Hill was down 2c or 2.2 per cent to 87c. Michael Hill earlier told the market its Australian business has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay A$2.6m in damages for the supply of packaging between 2014 and 2018.

Meridian Energy shed 8c to $5.52; Mercury was down 12c to $6.665; Mainfreight decreased 94c to $70.51; Tourism Holdings fell 11c or 2.91 per cent to $3.67; Napier Port was down 5c or 2 per cent to $2.45; and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ declined 5c or 2.6 per cent to $1.87.