NZX, Sky TV and Fletcher claw back after bout of selling

Sky Network Television rose 2.8 per cent to $3.71. Photo / Greg Bowker

New Zealand shares gained, with NZX, Sky Network Television and Fletcher Building recovering after selling this week.

The S&P/NZX50 index rose 36.6 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7177.58. Within the index, 22 stocks fell, 21 rose and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $112.2 million.

"There have been some quite big moves in the market - you've seen some stocks swing around a bit. Names that have been quite weak have rebounded a bit," said James Lindsay, senior portfolio manager at Nikko Asset Management.

"Bonds have this week tracked higher so that has impacted some of those yield names this week. It is a yield-dominated market. When offshore investors move orders around, we are susceptible to that because so many of our New Zealand names have reasonable, quite substantial offshore holdings." NZX was the best performer, up 2.8 per cent to $1.09, having dropped 5.4 per cent this week before yesterday's session, while A2 Milk gained 2.4 per cent to $2.54.

Sky Network Television rose 2.8 per cent to $3.71. It has lost 14 per cent since its proposed merger with Vodafone NZ was declined by the Commerce Commission last month.

"It has been relatively weak. There's obviously been a lot of concern on that name following the Voda deal being turned down, and it has bounced a little off its lows," Lindsay said.

Fletcher Building gained 1 per cent to $9.29. The stock has been sold off quite aggressively and bounced off lows yesterday, Lindsay said.

Stride Property was the worst performer, down 1.7 per cent to $1.76. Mercury fell 1.6 per cent to $3.12, Kathmandu Holdings dropped 1.5 per cent to $1.92, and Investore Property rose 1.5 per cent to $1.32.

Xero dipped 0.2 per cent to $18.65. The Wellington-based cloud accounting software developer this week signed deals with Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp and the Development Bank of Singapore to bring the Asian lenders into Xero's expanding "financial web".

Outside the benchmark index, Auckland-based Rakon gained 5 per cent to 21c. It has appointed three new directors - Lorraine Witten, Keith Oliver and Yin Tang Tseng - who will put themselves forward for election by shareholders at the next annual meeting in a refresh of the high-tech manufacturer's governance team.

NZME was unchanged at 83c. It and Fairfax New Zealand have another month to convince the Commerce Commission that allowing a merger of the country's two dominant news publishers is in the public interest.

T&G Global was unchanged at $3.73. The fruit marketer is selling its FloraMax flower auction business to United Flower Growers for an undisclosed sum. The deal, expected to be completed on or by March 31, comes as FloraMax "no longer aligns with T&G's strategy and focus on its core business and key categories", the company said.