Market close: NZ shares stage strong rally, boosted by travel stocks

Travel stocks benefited as the border reopens for returning Kiwis. Auckland International Airport increased 23c or 3.23 per cent to $7.35. Photo / 123RF

The New Zealand sharemarket staged a strong rally, rising nearly 2 per cent – and the travel stocks benefited as the border reopens for returning Kiwis.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed all day, reaching 12,197.92 after gaining 220.14 points or 1.84 per cent. There were 98 gainers and 50 decliners over the whole market, with 40.5 million worth $177.98 million changing hands.

The market welcomes a new addition, Booster Innovation Fund which invests in early-stage companies using intellectual property developed in New Zealand. Booster is listing at $1.208.

Greg Smith, head of retail with Devon Funds Management, said the local market was heartened by an emerging view that the rise in interest rates by central banks may not be as rapid as anticipated because of the economic uncertainty arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"The West has declared financial war on Russia, and there is some optimism that there may be resolution to the invasion with round one of the peace talks having been completed. The West is serious about the sanctions and Russia may have to rethink its position, with its banks frozen out," Smith said.

Auckland International Airport increased 23c or 3.23 per cent to $7.35 and Air New Zealand rose 5.5c or 3.68 per cent to $1.55 as they get busier.

Most of the leading stocks had strong days. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 56c or 2.04 per cent to $28.07; EBOS Group gained 81c or 2.08 per cent to $39.78; Spark rose 13.5c or 3 per cent to $4.64; Summerset Group Holdings collected 44c or 3.73 per cent to $12.25; and a2 Milk was up 8c to $6.03.

Mainfreight managing director Don Braid has bought a further 10,000 shares at $77.66 a share in the company through Domic Investments, and Mainfreight's share price increased $1.63 or 2.05 per cent to $81.02.

Among the energy companies, Contact was up 23c or 2.83 per cent to $8.35; Meridian rose 25.5c or 5.11 per cent to $5.25; and Vector increased 8c or 2.11 per cent to $3.88.

Genesis Energy increased 2.5c to $2.78 after launching a $75m, six-year green bond with a minimum interest rate of 4 per cent – with the ability to accept a further $75m of over-subscriptions.

Vista Group gained 5c or 2.54 per cent to $2.02 after reporting a 12 per cent increase in revenue to $98.1m for the 2021 financial year as moviegoers return to the cinemas. Operating earnings (ebitda) were $6.5m and Vista, which has a global 51 per cent market share in multi-screen complexes excluding China, recorded a net loss of $9.9m, an improvement from the $51.8m loss in 2020.

Infratil, up 10c to $8.05, told the market it is reviewing its 50 per cent shareholding in retirement village operator RetireAustralia and may result in a sale. The other 50 per cent shareholder NZ Super Fund is joining the review.

Westpac Banking Corporation has completed the $400m sale of Westpac Life NZ to Fidelity Life Assurance and expects to report a post-tax gain of $98m. Westpac's share price increased 26c to $24.71.

Other gainers were Port of Tauranga increasing 13c or 2.14 per cent to $6.20; Argosy Property up 3.5c or 2.55 per cent to $1.41; Pushpay Holdings rising 6c or 6.45 per cent to 99c; and Sky Network Television improving 9c or 3.45 per cent to $2.70.

Chorus was up 9.5c to $7.40; Ventia Services Group rose 8c or 3.31 per cent to $2.40; and DGL Group increased 11c or 3.83 per cent to $2.98.

Synlait Milk declined 7c or 2.08 per cent to $3.30; Vulcan Steel was down 21c or 2.14 per cent to $9.61; Enprise Group fell 9c or 8.26 per cent to $1; and TradeWindow shed a further 8c or 4.23 per cent to $1.81.

Plexure Group was down 1.5c or 4.41 per cent to 32.5c after telling the market its merger partner TASK has extended its contract with Foodco Group for a further five years. TASK's transaction platform powers 450 of Foodco's stores in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Singapore and Malaysia,

Chairman Rob Campbell increased his stake in New Zealand Rural Land Company, which gained 1c to $1.18. Campbell bought 275,000 shares at $1.18 a share for an outlay of $326,750.

Into its second year as a listed company, NZ Rural last week reported net profit of $3.17m on revenue of $4.27m for the six months ending December. In that period it has bought 4000ha of rural land, and is paying an interim dividend of 2.01c a share on March 18.

NZ Windfarms was up 1c or 5 per cent to 21c after increasing half-year net profit to $4.37m on revenue of $10.11m, up 47.49 per cent. Its generation was 56.1GWh and it is paying an interim dividend of 0.023c a share on April 4.