Market close: Energy stocks in good demand

Leading energy stocks were pursued by overseas investors. Photo / File

The New Zealand sharemarket roared back into life, rising nearly half a per cent on strong trading with the leading energy stocks being pursued by overseas investors.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed 61.82 points or 0.48 per cent to 12,828.99, after two days of falls and hitting an intraday low of 12,761.33. There were 88 gainers and 53 decliners over the whole market, with 107.5 million shares worth $314.6 million changing hands.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said there was a reasonable overnight in the United States (the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.13 per cent to 30,199.31) and the New Zealand and Australian markets bounced back after being quite weak at the close the day before.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.8 per cent to 6684.4 points at 5.45pm (NZ time), while the NZ dollar strengthened, once again shooting through the 71c mark against the American greenback. The NZ dollar traded between US70.81c and 71.12c during the day.

The energy stocks, included in global clean energy indices, were in good demand from the exchange traded funds, but their price increases cooled off by the end of trading through local profit-taking.

Contact finished down 2c to $8 after reaching an intraday high of $8.30; Meridian finally gained 3c to $6.63 after hitting an intraday high of $6.955; and Mercury fell from a high of $6.42 to close at $6.34, up 13c or 2.09 per cent for the day. Trustpower was down 24c or 3.07 per cent to $7.59.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare had another topsy-turvy day. It fell as low as $31.60 before recovering to $32.56, up 50c on trade worth $45.6m. Ebos Group, hit by the late fall the day before, rebounded 62c or 2.37 per cent to $26.77.

Spark, which has an attractive dividend yield, caught the festive season, gaining 13c or 2.95 per cent to $4.54. With consumers out buying for Christmas, retailers Briscoe Group rose 23c or 4.54 per cent to $5.30, and Hallenstein Glasson was 15c or 2.31 per cent to $6.65.

Retirement village operators Ryman Healthcare and Summerset Group Holdings are repaying their Covid-19 wage subsidies of $14.2m and $8.6m respectively. Ryman fell 29c to $14.71, while Summerset climbed 32c or 2.94 per cent to $11.20 amidst other developments.

Rob Campbell is retiring in April after 10 years as Summerset chairman, and the company upgraded its underlying profit for the year ending December to $96m-$98m. Its first half profit was $45.1m.

Goodson said Summerset provided a very good update "as you'd hope given the strength of the housing market. Against the backdrop of the house prices, they will be able to charge more than they would otherwise for their own units."

Utilities investor Infratil said it has executed its offer to buy 56 per cent of radiology specialist Qscan Group Holdings from Quadrant Private Equity for A$330m ($351m), and approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board is progressing.

Infratil expects to complete the deal by the end of the month, and its share price declined 8c to $7.02.

Pushpay Holdings, which resumed trading with aplomb, raised $97.9m at $1.79 a share to cover the sell-down of a combined 54.68m shares held by company executives Chris Heaslip and Chris Fowler. The bookbuild attracted bids from 22 institutional investors from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and United States. Pushpay's share price steadied 5c or 2.65 per cent down at $1.84, after going as low as $1.72 during the day on impressive trade of 61.48m shares worth $110m.

Kiwifruit grower and packer Seeka rose 10c 2.3 per cent after announcing a special dividend of 12c a share paid on January 27.

Allied Farmers climbed 7c or 12.07 per cent to 65c after helping new listing NZ Rural Land Company achieve its target of raising $75m in its initial public offering. Allied Farmers will take a 50 per cent shareholding in NZ Rural which will list on December 21.