Market close: Energy stocks surge ahead, Synlait gains big

Energy stocks surged ahead. Photo / 123RF

The dividend-yielding stocks came to the fore as the New Zealand sharemarket, spurred by strong offshore bourses, continued to scale new heights – despite the drawn-out result in the United States election.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up another 87.04 points or 0.71 per cent to 12,337.02, having gained 2.07 per cent during a strong week. The index is now zooming away from its February 21 all-time closing high of 12,073.34.

Many of the 182 stocks on the local market benefitted, with 111 gainers and just 29 decliners. But on a typical end-of-the-week Friday trading day, volume was down slightly at 50.2 million share transactions worth $145.12 million.

The investors chased the dividend stocks, knowing their 4-6 per cent return is better than bank deposit rates which have fallen to less than 1 per cent. "Why sell New Zealand shares when deposit rates are sitting near bond rates," said Nigel Scott, investment adviser with Craigs Investment Partners.

The energy stocks, which pay good dividends, surged ahead. Contact was up 12c to $7.75, Meridian increased 26c or 4.82 per cent to $5.65, Mercury gained 10c to $5.47, and Trustpower climbed 20c or 2.82 per cent to $7.28.

Spark was up 1.5c to $4.625, The Warehouse rose 11c or 4.74 per cent to $2.43, Mainfreight increased 56c to $53.80, Skellerup Holdings picked up 5c to $3.07, and another divvy stock Kiwi Property was up 2c to $1.25.

Retirement village operators also spurted ahead – Summerset Group Holdings rising 13c to $10.50, Ryman Healthcare increasing 20c to $14.70, and Oceania Healthcare gaining 4c or 3.03 per cent to $1.36. Retailer Briscoe Group rose 10c or 2.48 per cent to $4.14.

Chorus held its online annual meeting and told shareholders it was aiming to achieve one million fibre connections by 2022. It was approaching 800,000 connections, and in the September quarter added 33,000. Chorus' share price rose 13c to $8.64.

The market heavyweights swapped roles – a2 Milk having a good recovery with a rise of 46c or 3.21 per cent to $14.81 on trade worth $13.3m, and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare falling 79c or 2.14 per cent to $36.11. Pushpay Holdings also recovered ground, increasing 30c or 3.69 per cent to $8.44.

Synlait Milk was one of the biggest movers on the day, rising 39c or 7.63 per cent to $5.50, after announcing it has settled its legal stoush with New Zealand Industrial Park and its owner Karl Ye. Synlait built a new processing plant at Pokeno and Ye argued it shouldn't have happened because of historic land covenants on the site.

New Zealand Oil and Gas rose 1.5c or 2.16 per cent to 71c after reporting the Ironbark-1 gas well in the North Carnarvon Basin off the north-west coast of Australia has been spudded at a depth of 1583 metres. Nearby exploration at shallower depths resulted in gas condensate discoveries, and NZOG has a 15 per cent stake.

Overnight, United States markets continued to defy predictions if the election was deadlocked, pressing their rally to a fourth day and technology stocks gaining a fresh head of steam. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up another 500 points or 2.03 per cent to 28,411.62, S&P 500 gained 2.13 per cent to 3516.72, and Nasdaq Composite rose 2.64 per cent to 11,896.70. Apple and Microsoft rose 3.55 per cent and 3.19 per cent respectively to lead the technology revival.