“There was a lot of fear going into the results season and they weren’t as bad as they could have been,” Goodson said.
“The main movements were single company issues or beats [to forecasts] rather than economic factors. There was a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, though we know Auckland and Wellington are still doing it tough.
“The hope is that we have a decent spring and the interest rate cuts start to make an impact. There are still three- to four-year mortgages which were taken out when the rates were low, and it will take a while for the current cuts to flow through.”
Goodson said it was a solid day’s trading on the local market, in contrast to Australia, which is a welcome change.
‘A pattern of liquidity’
“In New Zealand lately, there’s been a pattern of liquidity at play early in the month, possibly KiwiSaver cash being invested.”
Across the Tasman, the ASX 200 Index was down 48.9 points or 0.54% to 8924.2 points at 6pm NZT.
The ASX 200 has risen 9.5% so far this year, while the NZX 50 is almost level.
On the local market, Ebos rallied 67c or 2.05% to $33.28, and wine exporter Delegat Group rebounded 18c or 4.44% to $4.23.
Goodson said Ebos lifted after the initial market shock and selling when it forecast increased costs in its latest result.
Delegat’s share price has been hammered over the past two years and its result was “less bad than feared” as it continued to bounce on broker upgrades.
Port of Tauranga is running at a four-year high after increasing 17c or 2.41% to $7.23, also on broker upgrades, following a strong result.
Mainfreight increased $2.50 or 4.21% to $61.85; market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 35c to $36.95; Infratil gained 13c to $11.49; Spark gained 4c to $2.62; Tourism Holdings rose 9c or 3.98% to $2.35; and Winton Land was up 5c or 2.43% to $2.11.
Retirement village stocks Ryman Healthcare and Summerset increased 7c or 2.93% to $2.46 and 20c or 1.82% to $11.19, respectively.
In the property sector, Argosy was up 3c or 2.54% to $1.21.
Gentrack declined 45c or 4.32% to $9.96 on small volume.
Other stocks
Meridian Energy was up 13c or 2.28% to $5.84 after launching a $250m, 6.5-year green bond, with the ability to accept oversubscriptions of up to $100m.
The green bonds are expected to be issued on September 11.
Fellow energy stocks Mercury and Contact increased 7c to $6.63 and 18c or 1.99% to $9.22, respectively.
Global marketer a2 Milk was down 2c to $10.68 after completing the purchase of the Pōkeno manufacturing plant, which has two Chinese-label infant formula product registrations. The registrations will be relaunched under the a2 Milk brand within 12-18 months.
The acquisition was a pivotal step in executing its supply chain transformation, a2 Milk said, and to returning value to shareholders through an intended $300m special dividend, subject to the China label regulatory approvals and completion of the Mataura Valley Milk divestment.
AoFrio, a provider of Internet of Things solutions and energy-efficient motors to the food and beverage industry, was the day’s leading riser, jumping 1.4c or 20.59% to 8.2c.
AoFrio told the market it expected to deliver record revenue of about $86m in the 2025 financial year (a 7.9% increase), a $1m improvement in operating earnings (ebitda) to $3.5m, and does not require additional capital to fund planned activities.
Among the small-cap stocks, ArborGen rose 1.7c or 15.45% to 12.7c, and Bremworth declined 4c or 6.35% to 59c.
Bremworth reported a 10.7% increase in full-year revenue to $88.9m and an operating earnings (ebitda) loss of $13.2m compared with a $4.7m loss in the previous year.
