NZ sharemarket surges on takeover activity - Market close

The banking stocks had good gains, including Heartland Group which rose 5c or 3.97 per cent to $1.31. Photo / Google Maps

The New Zealand sharemarket ended the week with a 1 per cent surge, fuelled by banking and building materials takeover activity in Australia and the bull market on Wall Street.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index momentarily reached a mid-morning low of 11,786.35 but then climbed steadily to close at 11,923.72, up 119.79 points or 1.01 per cent – its highest close in five weeks.

The index gained 1.5 per cent for the week and is now up 1.3 per cent so far this year.

There were 94 gainers and 33 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 26.06 million share transactions worth $123.91 million.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the local market took leads from the United States and Australia which traded strongly. Merger and acquisition activity was continuing to light up the Australian market.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index had risen 1.04 per cent to a new high of 7844.3 points at 5.45pm NZ time.

The Australian market came alive with a NZ$6 billion takeover offer by Nationwide Building Society to buy ASX-listed Virgin Money UK, which climbed 32.7 per cent to A$4.075 ($4.37).

Building materials company CSR and cement maker Boral are also involved with billion-dollar takeover bids.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.51 per cent to 16,237.38 points; the S&P 500 was up 1.03 per cent to 5157.36; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.34 per cent to 38,791.35.

The Virgin Money activity spurred fellow banks listed on the New Zealand market. ANZ was up 65c or 2.08 per cent to $31.95; Westpac increased 76c or 2.64 per cent to $29.60; and Heartland Group gained 5c or 3.97 per cent to $1.31.

Fletcher Building added 12c or 2.87 per cent to $4.30 after reports that it is holding mediation talks in Western Australia over the Iplex pipe issue.

Goodson said it was strange that the leaking pipes were only in Western Australia and not in other states. It might be a case of installation, but it would be a good sign if Fletcher could reach some outcome and avoid the worst situation of a product recall, which would be expensive.

Ebos Group was up 57c to $36.90; a2 Milk climbed a further 20c or 3.16 per cent to $6.53; Chorus gained 17.5c or 2.22 per cent to $8.05; Comvita increased 9c or 4.04 per cent to $2.32; Freightways collected 16c or 1.91 per cent to $8.54; and Gentrack added 12c to $7.92.

Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 42c to $24.88. Chairman Scott St John is retiring from the role in August after four years and will be replaced by fellow director Neville Mitchell, who joined the board in 2018. St John joined the board in 2015.

In the energy sector, Mercury rose a further 9.5c to $7.10 and Meridian was up 7.2c to $5.96.

Skellerup Holdings was up 10c or 2.3 per cent to $4.45; Vulcan Steel increased 19c or 2.35 per cent to $8.27; Steel & Tube gained 2c or 1.79 per cent to $1.14; Vista Group was up 6c or 3.7 per cent to $1.68; and Bremworth rose 4.5c or 9.28 per cent to 53c.

Tourism Holdings was up 8c or 2.4 per cent to $3.42; Serko increased 10c or 2.5 per cent to $4.10; NZ Rural Land Co collected 3c or 3.33 per cent to 94c; Allied Farmers gained 2c or 2.56 per cent to 80c; and NZX added 2c or 1.98 per cent to $1.03.

Port of Tauranga was down 12c or 2.25 per cent to $5.22; NZME dipped 2c or 2.17 per cent to 90c; My Food Bag declined 0.009c or 6.72 per cent to 12.5c; and Blackpearl Group decreased 3c or 5 per cent to 57c.

Rakon was up 1c to $1.29 as it continues to consider a takeover offer, understood to be Skyworks Solutions, a US$16b California-based semiconductor company. The non-binding offer is $1.70 a share.

TruScreen Group, unchanged at 2.1c, is doing clinical evaluation trials in Indonesia and Kenya for its cervical screening method.