Property companies across the NZX 50 had a strong day with share price increases from Ryman Healthcare, Argosy Property, Goodman Property and Stride Property.
Ryman’s shares closed up 6.34% or 13c to $2.18, although it remains down nearly 35% over the past year.
Argosy’s share price rose 2.86% to $1.08, up 3c while Goodman Property shares closed 3.22% higher on $1.96, up 6c.
Shares in Stride climbed 1.82% to $1.12, up 2c, with 482,776 shares changing hands to the value of $541,855.38.
The strength in property stocks came as Stats NZ released its March quarter data on the value of building work.
Residential building work was up 2.6% and non-residential was down 3.9%, with total building volume flat on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Elsewhere, Goodson said Ebos Group reclaimed most of the losses it made on Wednesday after its free float increased after a sell-down by a major shareholder.
On Thursday last week, longtime Ebos shareholder Sybos sold nearly 27 million shares for $949m.
“The big index re-inclusions have now happened for it, so from here the stock is back into its recent trading range really,” Goodson said.
“You’d have to say overall, given the size of the sell down, it’s gone very well.”
Shares in Ebos rose 3.18% to $37.96, up $1.17, with 299,564 shares changing hands to the value of $11,322,277.24.
As for the overall May reporting season, Goodson said it was a mixed bag.
“I think the economy at the moment is possibly not having a strong cyclical rebound that we would certainly have hoped at this point.
“The economy’s still just a little bit mixed, and it’s despite a rural boom as well. We remain very hopeful that we’ll see a much stronger economy by year’s end as those rate cuts feed through and as the rural sector boom feeds through.”
Wall Street stocks had mixed fortunes by close on Wednesday on signs that US economic activity was cooling, even though investors were careful not to overreact to a slowdown in private sector hiring.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% to 42,427.74, while the broad-based S&P 500 Index was flat at 5970.81.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.3% to 19,460.49.
Data from payroll firm ADP showed private sector employment growing by 37,000 jobs in May, sharply below expectations of 115,000 according to a Briefing.com consensus forecast. But markets shrugged off the figures for now.
“Lower interest rates and the thought of the [Federal Reserve] responding sooner rather than later to signs of a weakening economy have acted as underpinning factors,” said analysts from Briefing.com in a note.
On Wednesday, the Fed also noted “economic activity has declined slightly” in its latest Beige Book survey of economic conditions.
It flagged household and business caution because of heightened uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump’s policies and slower hiring as well.
– Additional reporting AFP
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
