Forsyth Barr upgrades the Spark stock, as the headwinds the company has been facing are expected to ease. Photo / NZME
Telco Spark rose sharply on a broker’s upgrade, as the improving New Zealand sharemarket posted its fourth successive gain.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index traded steadily in the afternoon and closed at 12,184.51, up 56.3 points or 0.46%. The index has now fallen 7% this year.
Volumes were solid, with 38.86 million trades worth $149.2m.
Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the local market had a very strong lead from the United States and it managed to grind up.
“Sentiment is still about President Donald Trump and tariffs and what they will look like on April 2. Who knows what we will walk into tomorrow,” Goodson said.
US stocks surged on optimism that the Trump administration may scale back the upcoming tariffs. Trump said he may give a lot of countries breaks but tariffs on pharmaceutical and auto sectors are still due for the near future.
In their biggest rebound for weeks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 583 points or 1.42% to 42,583.32; S&P 500 increased 1.76% to 5767.57; and Nasdaq Composite rose 2.27% to 18,188.59.
Chipmaker Nvidia gained 3.15% to US$121.41 (NZ$212.14), and Tesla surged 11.93% to US$278.39 ($486.45) but is still down nearly 27% this year. Rocket Lab was steady at US$20.29 ($35.45).
At home, Spark moved off its 13-year low with a rise of 8.5c or 4.29% to $2.065 after hitting an intraday high of $2.105.
Broker Forsyth Barr upgraded the Spark stock to outperform, saying the structural, competitive and cyclical headwinds are expected to slowly start to ease through this year.
Goodson said the upgrade sparked some buying as some investors attempted to pick the bottom of Spark’s share price. “Who knows. Spark will have to make significant cuts to its dividends as the balance sheet is hardly debt-free.”
Synlait Milk continued to lose ground since its improved half-year result, declining 11c or 12.22% to 79c after racing to $1.02 on February 18.
Goodson said Synlait’s share price had run extremely hard and there are questions about whether the dairy company can repeat the financial results in the future.
Vulcan Steel neared its highs after rising 45c or 5.25% to $9.02 but volumes were light with 56 trades worth $165,000.
Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 46c to $33.06; Port of Tauranga collected 15c or 2.33% to $6.60; and in the energy sector Contact gained 15c or 1.74% to $8.75; Manawa added 7c to $4.80; and Mercury increased 10c or 1.79% to $5.70.
Meridian Energy, down 11c or 2.02% to $5.33, told the market that its first solar farm at Ruakākā near Whangārei will begin construction in August. The farm, with 250,000 solar panels and covering an area of 170 rugby fields, will generate up to 230GWh of electricity a year – enough to power half the homes in Northland.
The $227m solar farm is alongside the 100MW battery energy storage system which will be operating next month and is part of Meridian’s $3 billion development pipeline through to 2030.
Meridian also has consent to build the 90MW Mt Munro wind farm near Eketāhuna and 100MW battery energy storage system in Manawatū. It has a joint venture with Nova Energy to build the 400MW Te Rāhui Solar Farm near Taupō.
In the retail sector, Hallenstein Glasson gained 10c to $8.05; The Warehouse rose 5c or 5.81% to 91c; and KMD Brands was up 1c or 2.78% to 37c.
Other gainers were Serko collecting 9c or 2.37% to $3.89; Colonial Motor Co rising 24c or 3.6% to $6.90; Tourism Holdings up 7c or 3.95% to $1.84; Pacific Edge improving 0.006c or 4.72% to 13.3c; Comvita increasing 3c or 4.29% to 73c; and Bremworth adding 3c or 5% to 63c.
Ryman Healthcare declined 10c or 3.83% to $2.51; Fonterra Co-operative Group was down 6c to $4.94; T&G Global fell 6c or 3.53% to $1.64; Steel & Tube decreased 2c or 2.5 to 78c; and Santana Minerals shed 2c or 3.23% to 60c.
Other decliners were SkyCity decreasing 3c or 2.38% to $1.23; Blackpearl Group down 2c or 2.44% to 80c; and Foley Wines shedding 2c or 2.9% to 67c.
Vital, unchanged at 24c, told the market that Empire Technology has appealed a Takeovers Panel decision in the High Court. The panel ordered Empire to pay $247,036 in takeover expenses to Vital but has not paid the invoice.
Chatham Rock Phosphate, unchanged at 9.8c, has raised $137,527 from a private placement of shares at 8.6c a share.