“There’s been good underlying guts to the market for a while, and now that some of the leading stocks have started to bounce a bit, it’s becoming evident in the headline performance.”
Naomi James duo
One of those stocks is Ryman, which backed up from a strong Wednesday session, rising 2.69% to $2.67 on turnover worth $2.8m.
Sigley said the stock’s performance has been helped by listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Wednesday.
He noted that some Australian investment funds have mandates that prohibit the purchase of NZ-only stocks.
“By opening that up, they’ve opened up a whole range of additional investors, and obviously somebody out there has taken a bit of a shine to it,” he said.
Channel Infrastructure, which incidentally was formerly run by Ryman’s chief executive, Naomi James, likewise had a strong day. The Marsden Point owner lifted sharply at 3pm, ending up 1.88% to $2.71.
Sigley said news that global oil giants are rationalising their assets was giving some investors the idea that Channel will have some favourable acquisition opportunities in the near future.
“Somebody’s joined the dots,” he said, adding that the Wiri Tank Farm in Auckland is something investors will be hoping Channel can get its hands on.
“That’s something that channel has talked about in the past, has been sort of a perfect fit for their business, and something that they’ve got a real core competency in operating.“
Losing out today was Mainfreight, which Sigley said was having difficulties due to its unfortunate exposure to disruptions in global trade flows and the United States. It cut back 2.12% to finish the day at $61.99.
Bremworth
Bremworth became the latest listed company to announce its likely departure from the exchange. Earlier in the day, it announced that it had struck a deal for the owner of its rival, Godfrey Hirst, to acquire it.
The carpet and rug manufacturer has entered into a scheme implementation agreement with Mohawk Industries, through its premium hard flooring business, Floorscape.
Under the deal, shareholders could receive between $1.05 and $1.15 per share, subject to market conditions and business performance.
Having closed at 62 cents on Wednesday, they soared promptly after the announcement to close out the session at 88 cents.
The Warehouse Group’s shares had dipped 2.5% but climbed in the last hour of trading to close the day flat at 80 cents.It posted earnings before interest and taxes (ebit), or operating earnings, of $1.3m. That was down sharply from $28.9m a year earlier but within the guidance range it gave in July of a loss or gain of up to $5m.
The retailer said sales and gross profit for the first seven weeks of fiscal 2026 are tracking at similar levels to last year.
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