Market close: AFT Pharmaceuticals shares jump after securing access to US painkiller market

AFT Pharmaceuticals chief executive Dr Hartley Atkinson. Photo / NZME

New Zealand’s local index was down for most of the day with some of its heavyweight stocks sliding before the market managed to make a slight comeback by early evening.

The S&P/NZX 50 index edged up slightly by 24.5 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 11,900.86. Turnover was $112.7 million.

Octagon Asset Management’s chief investment officer, Paul Robertshawe, told BusinessDesk that NZ’s market had been noticeably quieter today as the earnings season came to a close.

An offshore flow into the index had also helped keep things a bit busier over the past few days but that appeared to be dropping off slightly today, he said.

Heavyweight stocks that were down today included the banks ANZ Group, which was down 2.8 per cent to $25.91, and Westpac Bank, which fell 5 per cent to $23.45. However, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare jumped 2.6 per cent to $26.25.

Auckland International Airport edged down 0.8 per cent to $8.70 but turned over the most in value out of the whole index today – almost $20.8m.

AFT Pharmaceuticals made a bit of a splash in the market after it announced it had secured access to the multibillion-dollar United States painkiller market with approval of its rapid-release Maxigesic tablets. The stock ended the day up 10.7 per cent to $3.72.

Vista Group fell 7.5 per cent to $1.36, a day after it posted a $20.9m annual net loss in its full-year result results. However, the firm’s operating profit for calendar 2022 was up 63 per cent as cinema attendance partly rebounded and as it continues to switch its software into a cloud-based subscription model.

Shares in NZ Rural Land Co (NZRL) were flat at $1.045 after the company surprised the market with the news it had listed on the Frankfurt exchange.

“The undertaking of this dual listing fits with NZRL’s previous market commentary that it is seeking to broaden its international investor base, and a dual listing in Frankfurt is a cost-effective venue to facilitate this,” the company said this morning.

Church management software firm Pushpay announced BGH Capital and Sixth Street’s bid to take Pushpay Holdings private at $1.34 a share had failed, with a third of proxy votes opposing the deal. The company’s shares remain in a trading halt until Monday.

Dairy co-op Fonterra also announced today that it had appointed one of its directors, Leonie Guiney, to its Milk Price Panel and would replace Brent Goldsack. Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund Units were up 2.7 per cent to $3.10 in light trading.

On the currency front, the NZ dollar was trading at 62.43 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, jumping from 61.68 cents at the same time yesterday.

- BusinessDesk