Apple reached record highs after increasing 1.51 per cent to US$188.06 (NZ$307.35). Photo / 123RF
Investor sentiment suddenly changed offshore – consumer confidence is high in the United States - and the New Zealand sharemarket joined the party with a three-quarter per cent gain.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index kept climbing throughout the afternoon and closed at 11,733.46, up 84.25 points or 0.72 per cent.
There were 91 gainers and 36 decliners over the whole market on increased volumes of 35.03 million share transactions worth $131.82 million.
Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer with Octagon Asset Management, said the local market had a positive vibe. “Investors have been watching it drift down for a while and buyers have come back.
“There were two minor pieces of economic data in the US and they beat consensus and gave the market hope. I was a bit surprised how robust the markets were and it’s not all gloom and doom – maybe manufacturing there is at a bottom,” Robertshawe said.
US durable goods orders and new home sales for May were higher than expected, and consumer confidence reached its highest level since January last year, easing fears of an impending recession.
Investors poured back into technology stocks with the Nasdaq Composite rising 1.65 per cent and is now up 29.5 per cent for the year. The Nasdaq is on track for its best first half trading in 40 years.
Apple and Nvidia, driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning, reached record highs after increasing 1.51 per cent to US$188.06 (NZ$307.35) and 3.06 per cent to US$418.76 ($684.39) respectively.
Tesla was up 3.8 per cent to US$250.21 ($408.92) and Microsoft gained 1.82 per cent to US$334.57 ($546.79).
Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 1.23 per cent to 7205.9 points at 6pm NZ time.
At home, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 23c to $23.99; Freightways recovered 22c or 2.44 per cent to $8.40; Ebos Group gained 55c to $36.50; Auckland International Airport collected 8c to $8.46; and Fletcher Building increased 16c or 3.1 per cent to $5.32 on trade worth $14.9m.
Oceania Healthcare was up 4c or 5.41 per cent to 78c and Arvida Group gained 2c to $1.20 as government funding for aged care beds increases next week.
Robertshawe said Oceania and Arvida have the highest amount of care beds amongst the retirement village operators. They are quite leveraged to that and the 8-9 per cent increase in funding is a boost to them.
Ryman Healthcare was up 7c to $6.55; Summerset Group gained 10c to $9.45; and Radius Residential Care improved 1c or 4.88 per cent to 21.5c.
Serko increased 4c to $3.60 after telling shareholders at the annual meeting that it has had a strong start to the 2024 financial year and still expects revenue of $63m-$70m and spend of $86m-$90m. It has cash of $88m and no debt.
ANZ Bank increased 76c or 3.09 per cent to $25.38; Scott Technology gained 10c or 3.28 per cent to $3.15; Comvita was up 7c or 2.55 per cent to $2.82; and Seeka added 9c or 3.64 per cent to $2.56.
Carbon Fund recovered 6c or 5.04 per cent to $1.25; Rakon increased 4c or 4.49 per cent to 93c; and Winton Land was up 5c or 2.7 per cent to $1.90.
Goodman Property Trust was up 2c to $2.20 after telling shareholders at the annual meeting it has increased its cash earnings 6.6 per cent to $99.6m or 7.1c per unit this year – 3 per cent higher than its original guidance.
Goodman expects a further 4 per cent increase in cash earnings to 7.4c a unit because of high occupancy levels, growing rental rates, new development completions and acquisitions.
The property sector had a stronger day, increasing 0.89 per cent on the NZX market. Precinct Properties was up 2c to $1.285; Kiwi Property gained 2.5c or 2.86 per cent to 90c; Vital Healthcare Trust added 1.5c to $2.335, while Investore was down 2c to $1.25.
Skellerup decreased 8c to $4.51; Gentrack declined 16c or 3.78 per cent to $4.07; NZME fell 4c or 4.17 per cent to 92c; and Sky TV shed 6c or 2.5 per cent to $2.34.
Synlait Milk shed 3c or 1.81 per cent to $1.63; CDL Investments was down 2c or 2.47 per cent to 79c; and Cooks Coffee declined 2.5c or 9.09 per cent to 25c.
Transport software firm Eroad, down 1c to $1.23, has seen nearly 13 per cent of its shares change hands since Ontario-based Volaris Group indicated it was making a takeover bid at $1.30 per share.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Colonial First State Investments have reduced their Eroad holdings by more than a half to just above 3 per cent each. Australian Ethical Investment now holds 6.15 per cent instead of 8.39 per cent, and Volaris through Brillian APAC has a 17.73 per cent stake.
Robertshawe said the arbitrage players might be thinking there will be a higher bid for Eroad, though that could still be weeks or months away.