Market close: Industrial and energy stocks help drive sharemarket higher

Fletcher Building was up 13c or 2.81 per cent to $4.75. Photo / NZME

The New Zealand sharemarket, well supported by the industrial and energy stocks, came alive with a strong afternoon recovery and a gain of nearly one per cent on busy trading.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index first fell to an intraday low of 11,861.65 before bouncing back and closing at 11,987.3, up 97.69 points or 0.82 per cent. The index’s industrial sector increased 1.6 per cent and energy 2.8 per cent.

There were 75 gainers and 59 decliners over the whole market on increased volume of 67.18 million share transactions worth $229.34 million. The trade was dominated by Pushpay Holdings, 31.69 million shares worth $44.75m, as the software firm disappeared from the NZX main board.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment advisor with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said: “We have had a positive day with the industrials doing the heavy lifting. They were stocks that went down last week and have now come back.”

Mainfreight rose $1.47 or 2.1 per cent to $71.49; Fletcher Building was up 13 cents or 2.81 per cent to $4.75; Port of Tauranga rose 20c or 3.15 per cent to $6.55; Napier Port gained 9c or 3.63 per cent to $2.57; Channel Infrastructure increased 4c or 2.8 per cent to $1.47; and Skellerup Holdings added 5c to $4.85.

Mercury Energy gained 10.5c to $6.595; Meridian was up 6.5c to $5.515; Genesis increased 5c or 1.84 per cent to $2.77; and Manawa collected 4c to $4.94.

Consumer discretionary stocks also did well. Ebos Group increased 79c or 1.78 per cent to $45.29; Restaurant Brands was up 23c or 3.11 per cent to $7.63; a2 Milk gained 8c to $5.68; and Tourism Holdings recovered 8c or 2.08 per cent to $3.93.

Auckland International Airport, up 9c to $8.84, has closed its five-and-a-half-year bond issue at $150m, with an interest rate of 5.29 per cent a year. The bonds will be issued next Wednesday.

Turners Automotive gained 4c to $3.44 after telling the market it is on track for a slightly improved full-year profit before tax of $44m compared with $43.1m for the 2022 financial year.

Turners said there was no significant change to trading in the fourth quarter - car sales are holding up, market share continues to grow, and the loan book is stable with arrears improving in February after an expected deterioration in December and January.

Air New Zealand was up 0.005c to 75.5c after telling guests at the Trenz travel trade event in Christchurch that it will be spending $3.5 billion on new aircraft - eight 787-9 Dreamliners and five Airbus A320neo - and refurbishing 14 Boeing 787 planes over the next five years, bringing a combined 4.5 million seats onto 39 routes.

Other gainers were SkyCity Entertainment collecting 4c or 1.78 per cent to $2.29; Foley Wines up 3c or 2.31 per cent to $1.33; Rakon adding 2c or 1.89 per cent to $1.08; Seeka up 5c or 1.92 per cent to $2.65; and Carbon Fund rising 9c or 5.33 per cent to $1.78.

Steel & Tube gained 2c or 1.94 per cent to $1.05 after telling the market that second-half volumes are expected to fall 10-15 per cent compared with the first half, because of the recessionary operating environment.

Full-year guidance for earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) is now $28m-$32m, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) $48m- $52m. In the previous year, Steel & Tube’s ebit was $47.6m and ebitda $66.6m.

Steel & Tube’s revenue for the first 10 months of 2023 financial year was $489m, slightly ahead of $479.3m for the previous corresponding period.

Chorus declined 8.5c to $8.61; Comvita fell 8c or 2.62 per cent to $2.97; Vulcan Steel shed 16c or 1.96 per cent to $8.01; Michael Hill fell 5c or 4.5 per cent to $1.06; and Tower was down 1.5c or 2.59 per cent to 56.5c.

Other decliners were NZME, down 2c or 1.87 per cent to $1.05; Move Logistics decreasing 5c or 5.26 per cent to 90c; and Accordant Group falling 8c or 4.91 per cent to $1.55.

Good Spirits Hospitality tumbled 0.002c or 8 per cent to 2.3c after arranging, for the second time, with its lender Pacific Dawn to defer the interest payment for the March quarter. The payment date was extended to next Tuesday.

Sullivan said it’s not looking very good for Good Spirits. “It has $32m debt and a market capitalisation of $1.32m. Listed shell companies are worth around $3m. I guess the debt holder could take control of the remaining assets and the shareholders will miss out.”

Medicinal cannabis company Cannasouth, unchanged at 29c, has launched its $9m capital raise to its own and Eqalis shareholders, and it must reach $7m by June 9 to satisfy the conditions of the merger. Cannasouth has also launched a general retail offer with $5.1m already committed.