Market close: Port of Tauranga helps push NZX higher

Port of Tauranga helped lead the NZX higher, gaining 26c or 3.52 per cent to $7.65. Photo / File

The New Zealand sharemarket continues to go its own merry way with another solid rise, while offshore bourses continue to flounder.

The resilient S&P/NZX 50 Index was up another 76.8 points or 0.62 per cent to 12,462.05 – its 12th rise in 15 days. There were 75 gainers and 64 decliners over the whole market and trading was strong with 81.32 million shares worth $209.7 million changing hands.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index in Australia was down 0.8 per cent to 6185 points at 5.45pm and Wall Street had a sharp afternoon fall as hopes for a new economic stimulus package faded.

Dan Stratful, investment adviser with Forsyth Barr, said the New Zealand market is performing strongly compared with offshore. "It is doing better than Europe and Australia on most trading days and it just keeps ticking higher.

"The retailers are coming back into favour and the property stocks keep going up. I don't think the big brand retailers are in as much trouble as people expected," Stratful said.

A healthcare, a port, a retirement village, a milk and an energy stock led the market forward. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 29c to $35.53 on trade worth $17.5m; Port of Tauranga climbed 26c or 3.52 per cent to $7.65; Ryman Healthcare rose 27c to $14.77; and a2 Milk increased 8c to $15.78.

Contact Energy was up 15c to $7.71 as it aims to head back past $8. Contact was supposed to be the next stock on the global MSCI New Zealand Index to join Fisher and Paykel, a2 Milk, Spark, Meridian, Auckland International Airport, Ryman and Mercury.

But Contact's share price needs to reach $8.60 over the next 10 trading days to make the grade on the index – having plunged to $7.56 the day before. "It comes down to market capitalisation, and we still see value in Contact," said Stratful.

Auckland International Airport was under heavy trading, gaining 4c to $7.31 on 4.85m share transactions worth $35.48m. The Warehouse increased 5c or 2.13 per cent to $2.40, Restaurant Brands was up 16c to $12.10, and Serko gained 18c or 3.58 per cent to $5.21.

Chorus fell 7.5c to $8.55; Ebos Group was down 41c to $26; Fletcher decreased 11c to $4.22; and Mainfreight shed 83c to $53.87 after its golden run.

Mercury slipped 2c to $5.28 after providing its latest operating report. Hydro generation fell 170GWh to 1044GWh for the first quarter of the 2021 financial year, reflecting drought conditions within the Lake Taupo catchment. The mass market sales yield increased 6.6 per cent to $137. MWh, and customer connections decreased by 6000 to 342,000. Mercury has estimated its full-year generation will fall by 200GWh to 3700GWh, more than 300GWh below average.

Transportation technology firm EROAD has launched its Clarity Dashcam, designed to help improve safety and enable driver coaching and incident prevention, and, in cases of an accident, proof of facts. Its share price slipped 3c to $4.13.

TruScreen Group remained unchanged at 9.2c, not 92c as reported yesterday.

The United States markets went on a wild ride overnight, with the Dow Jones index swinging more than 570 points between highs and lows before finishing sharply down nearly 411 points or 1.44 per cent to 28,195.42. The S&P 500 lost 1.63 per cent to 3426.92 and the Nasdaq had its fifth daily fall, down 1.65 per cent to 11,478.88 points.

Stocks opened moderately higher on hopes that a stimulus deal might still get done ahead of the election, as well as buoyant economic news out of China. But the hopes were dashed, and there were concerns about rising Covid cases in several states.

Interestingly, it was the 33rd anniversary of the 1987 sharemarket crash when the Dow and the S&P fell more than 20 per cent in one day.