Market close: NZ stocks eke out sixth gain for the month

NZ stocks lost momentum but ended the day with a slight gain. Photo / File

While many investors sat back and lapped up a sunny public holiday in the north, the New Zealand sharemarket sneakily posted its sixth gain of the month.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index reached an intraday high of 12,012.65 but lost its momentum in the last 45 minutes of trading and closed ahead by 37.24 points or 0.31 per cent to 11,889.4. The index finished a jittery January down more than 9.10 per cent.

There were 85 gainers and 60 decliners across the whole market of 188 stocks.

Still, the index snapped big sell-offs in the previous two trading days, which featured falls of 1.11 per cent and 1.64 per cent.

The index opened the year with a rise of 0.9 per cent but it's been downhill from there because of investors' fears about rising inflation and interest rates. The index finished a jittery January down more than 8.5 per cent.

The north was enjoying the Auckland Anniversary holiday weekend, but there were buyers elsewhere including Australia and volume was healthy with 33.72 million share transactions worth $156.36m. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and Spark dominated the trading.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the local market had a strong lead from the United States markets which bounced back.

The technology-driven Nasdaq Composite surged 3.13 per cent to 13,770.57 points; S&P 500 rose 2.43 per cent to 4431.85; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 564 points or 1.65 per cent to 34,725.47 on Saturday morning (NZ time).

Sullivan said the market was evenly poised "It's now a question of whether the correction is over or the market will continue down a bit more.

Headwinds have been priced into the market – but we won't know whether they have all been accounted for till the reporting season."

Cinema software management firm Vista Group, up 9c or 4.5 per cent to $2.09, goes first by announcing its latest six month financial result on February 10, followed by SkyCity Entertainment and Contact Energy on February 14 and Fletcher Building two days later.

Things will become a lot clearer when 16 companies report their results between February 21 and 25, including Freightways, Mercury, Meridian and Auckland International Airport.

Sullivan said one thing's for sure – asset prices, both property and equities, have turned as central bank tighten monetary policy and markets price in steep interest rate rises. The end of cheap money for the short term has hit all investments.

Some of the energy companies and retirement village stocks had a bounce-back.

Contact rose 28c or 3.71 per cent to $7.83; Summerset Group Holdings increased 29c or 2.43 per cent to $12.20; Oceania Healthcare was up 4c or 3.51 per cent to $1.18; and Ryman Healthcare gained 5c to $9.90.

Auckland International Airport was up 8c to $7.18; Chorus gained 11c to $6.95; Port of Tauranga increased 9c to $6.44; and PGG Wrightson rose 23c or 4.47 per cent to $5.38.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 25c to $27.75 after reaching an intraday high of $29.03 on trade worth $39.33m; and Mainfreight also turned around, shedding 50c to $83.50.

The retailers were mixed. Kathmandu Holdings increased 5c or 3.71 per cent to $1.40; Michael Hill International was up 4c or 2.88 per cent to $1.43; Briscoe Group declined 13c or 2.14 per cent to $5.94; Hallenstein Glasson was 16c or 2.5 per cent to $2.27; ad The Warehouse Group declined 5c to $3.

Spark told the market it again owns telecommunications construction contractor Connect 8 by buying back 50 per cent from electricity distribution company Electra Group. Spark's share price was unchanged at $4.33 on trade worth $20.32m.

Allied Farmers rose 9c or 11.39 per cent to 88c after upgrading its forecast net profit to $1.2m-$1.4m, from $1m-$1.2m, for the six months ending December.

The upgrade resulted from a pre-tax increased contribution of $200,000 from subsidiary Farmers Meat Export.

Among other gainers, NZME rose 8c or 7.08 per cent to $1.21; Rakon was up 7c or 3.93 per cent to $1.85; Sanford gained 9c or 2 per cent to $4.60; EROAD increased 19c or 4.32 per cent to $4.59; DGL Group was up 7c or 2.53 per cent to $2.84; and Gentrack collected 7c or 4.05 per cent to $1.80.

Pacific Edge decreased 5c or 4.42 per cent to $1.08; and Pushpay Holdings was down 3 or 2.7 per cent to $1.08.

New Listings Trade Window fell 7c or 2.83 per cent to $2.40; infrastructure provider Ventia Services Group was down 5c or 2.08 per cent to $2.35; and Winton Land was up 10c or 2.86 per cent to $3.60.