Market close: Blue-chip stocks push NZ sharemarket higher

The New Zealand sharemarket made a 1 per cent gain. Photo / NZME

Blue-chip stocks rebounded and pushed the New Zealand sharemarket to a 1 per cent gain as investors took heart that interest rate rises may not be as rapid as expected because of the uncertainty caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was strong all day, picking up 122.65 points or 1.01 per cent to 12,211.4 – following another rally on Wall Street overnight.

There were 113 gainers and just 24 decliners over the whole market of 188 stocks, with 37.5 million shares worth $163.9 million changing hands.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said there has been unusual volatility in the blue chips but this has been driven by the war in Ukraine.

"Commodity price pressures are coming through – wheat prices have hit their highest in nearly 14 years – and there may be slower economic growth globally. This will cause central banks to revise their interest rate rises. Any decrease in the pace of the rises will increase the value of stocks.

"It looks like the housing market in New Zealand has turned and this was one of the big threats for the Reserve Bank in dealing with inflation. The bank may have dodged a bullet this time," said Sullivan.

The United States Federal Reserve told financial markets it would still go ahead with its first interest rate hike since Covid-19 struck later this month but the rise would more likely be 25 rather than 50 basis points.

This certainty gave the markets more confidence. The Dow Jones Industrial Average made up the 600 points it lost the day before, rising 1.79 per cent to 33,891.35; S&P 500 was up 1.86 per cent to 4386.65; and Nasdaq Composite increased 1.62 per cent to 13,752.02.

The price of crude oil surged to US$112 a barrel, compared with US$57 a year ago. And gold has climbed back to nearly US$2000 an ounce.

At home, some of the more volatile stocks lately were up again. Ryman Healthcare rose 28c or 2.93 per cent to $9.83 after falling 48c or 4.79 per cent the day before; and Auckland International Airport was up 22c or 3.1 per cent to $7.32.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare increased 23c to $28; EBOS Group gained 52c to $39.20; Mainfreight rose $2 or 2.44 per cent to $83.80; Spark was up 6c to $4.695; and Freightways collected 30c or 2.47 per cent to $12.47.

Chorus was up 10c to $7.46; Skellerup Holdings gained 13.5c or 2.36 per cent to $5.86; Tourism Holdings increased 9c or 3.49 per cent to $2.67; Scales Corporation collected 15c or 3.09 per cent to $5; Comvita improved 7c or 2.07 per cent to $3.45; DGL Group rose 10c or 3.45 per cent to $3; and TradeWindow was up 4c or 2.22 per cent to $1.84.

Among the energy companies, Genesis increased 7c or 2.5 per cent to $2.87; Trustpower gained 10c to $6.75; Vector was up 6c to $3.86; Contact was down 7c to $8.18; and Meridian declined 8c to $5.22.

Among the property companies, Vital Healthcare Property Trust rose 16.5c or 5.28 per cent to $3.229; Argosy was up 2c to $1.39; Kiwi Property increased 2.5c or 2.34 per cent to $1.095; and Precinct Properties also gained 2.5c to $1.585.

Air New Zealand was down 2.5c to $1.505; Seeka declined 9c to $5.01; and AFT Pharmaceuticals shed 9c or 2.28 per cent to $3.86.

Infratil, named Company of the Year in the Deloitte Top 200 Awards, increased 10c to $8.22.

Broadcaster and publisher NZME, winner of the Most Improved Performance category in the Deloitte awards, climbed to a new high, rising 9c or 6.16 per cent to $1.55.

Vulcan Steel, which won the Best Growth Strategy category in the same awards, increased 15c to $9.80. Founded in 1995, Vulcan has 29 distribution and processing facilities in Australia and New Zealand.

Greenfern Industries is writing the clinical trial protocols for a low dose cannabidiol (BBD) medication for sale in pharmacies, and its share price was up 0.005c or 2.5 per cent to 20.5c.

TruScreen Group rose 0.009 or 13.04 per cent to 7.8c after telling the market it has received national pricing approval in China for its cervical cancer screen system and it has sold 10,800 units to the Zimbabwe National Aids Council to complete a pilot project.

Transportation technology company EROAD, up 1c to $3.79, has renewed its contract for 5500 units with its largest New Zealand customer, Downer EDI, through to December 2025.