Property vehicles and banks show gains

Spark NZ led the index lower, down 3.7 per cent to $3.68.Picture / Greg Bowker

Investors shift from defensive to more cyclical stocks driven by rising US bond yields and Japanese action.

New Zealand shares were mixed as investors moved towards cyclical stocks, with Spark New Zealand down while property vehicles and banks gained.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index dropped 0.2 per cent, or 15.15 points, to 7064.31. Within the index, 30 stocks rose, 17 fell and four were unchanged. Turnover was $167.2 million.

"Across the region, there's a continued shift from defensive to more cyclical stocks - that's being driven by bond yields rising somewhat in the US market, and Japan looking to take ever-more aggressive action on the fiscal front," said Matt Goodson of Salt Funds Management.

Spark New Zealand led the index lower, down 3.7 per cent to $3.68.

"Spark had a meteoric rise as people were chasing yield, all of a sudden there's been a rotation," Goodson said, although he cautioned that the volumes on yesterday's downward shift were very light given school holidays in Australia and New Zealand.

Mighty River Power fell 2.6 per cent to $3.01, Tower dropped 1.9 per cent to $1.32 and Genesis Energy declined 1.6 per cent to $2.105.

Kathmandu Holdings gained the most, up 3.6 per cent to $1.75. It has risen 32 per cent since raising its annual earnings forecast at the end of June.

Kiwi Property Group gained 2.3 per cent to $1.54 and Vital Healthcare Property Trust rose 1.9 per cent to $2.195.

Investore Property, the Stride Property offshoot, advanced 1.2 per cent to $1.63. The stock climbed on Tuesday after it was added to the NZX at $1.49. Stride Property rose 0.5 per cent to $1.99.

"There appear to be some investors who are looking at the very long term of Investore's leases, and are happy to put them in the bottom drawer," Goodson said.

The banks continued to rebound yesterday. Heartland Bank gained 1.6 per cent to $1.27, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group rose 1.2 per cent to $25.70 and Westpac Banking Corp advanced 1 per cent to $31.

"The banks have made quite a recovery, they're hard hit by lower interest rates affecting profitability but showing modest signs of respite there," Goodson said.

Outside the main index, Moa Group gained 13.5 per cent to 84c.

Pushpay Holdings gained 7.6 per cent to $2.41. The company, whose mobile payment app allows churches to raise money from parishioners, lifted annualised committed monthly revenue to US$27.3m ($38.8m) over the quarter to June 30, up nearly 40 per cent on the previous quarter.