Market close: Blue chips power sharemarket to big gain

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 49c to $32.74. Photo / Supplied

The established blue chip stocks were in fine form as the reinvigorated New Zealand sharemarket opened the week with a gain of nearly 1 per cent.

The S&P/NZX 5 Index climbed steadily all day and closed at 13,180.58, up 120.79 points or 0.92 per cent. There were 96 gainers and 46 decliners over the whole market, on volume of 66.6 million share transactions worth $190 million.

The index has shrugged off the lockdown, rising 4.2 per cent over the past two weeks. "Ironically, we've had one of the strongest fortnights this year, and the market doesn't seem to be worried about Auckland being locked down for a further two weeks," said Greg Smith, head of research with Fat Prophets.

He said the local market was carrying on from the strength on Wall Street with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reaching new highs. "Following (Federal Reserve chair) Jerome Powell's speech, there was relief that central banks are still being accommodative and kicking interest rate rises down the road."

At home, the blue chips powered the leading index. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 49c to $32.74; Mainfreight climbed $1.59 to $94; Ebos Group rose 98c or 2.8 per cent to a new high of $36.01; Freightways increased 14c to $12.69; Meridian gained 6c to $5.13; Auckland International Airport picked up 6c to $7.13; Infratil collected 13c to $7.52; and Chorus was up 6c to $7.

Synlait and a2 Milk rebounded, increasing 10c or 3.10 per cent to $3.33, and 2c to $6.11 respectively.

Retirement village operators Summerset Group Holdings rose 15c to $15.49; Ryman Healthcare gained 10c to $15.40; Arvida was up 4c to $2.10; and Oceania Healthcare increased 4c or 2.65 per cent to $1.55. Oceania announced a $75m, seven-year fixed rate bond, with the discretion to accept oversubscriptions of up to $25m.

Wine exporter Delegat Group rose 48c or 3.35 per cent to $14.80 on the eve of announcing its latest earnings. Delegat and online personal lender Harmoney, which fell 4c or 1.9 per cent to $2.06, are two of the last companies to report their financial results.

Air New Zealand was up 2.5c to $1.515; Serko rose 10c to $8.10; Hallenstein Glasson gained 15c or 2.13 per cent to $7.20; Heartland Group Holdings put on another 9c or 3.98 per cent to $2.35; Property for Industry collected 4c to $372; and Sky Network Television increased 1c or 6.02 per cent to 17.6c.

Napier Port, which announced its sustainability strategy with more than 100 actions, increased 2c to $3.16. South Port New Zealand was up 6c to $8.63.

Cancer diagnostics firm Pacific Edge rose 6c or 4.48 per cent to $1.40 after telling the market it was dual listing on the Australian Stock Exchange as a foreign exempt entity by the end of September.

Fletcher Building decreased 6c to $7.27; My Food Bag was down 3c or 2.16 per cent to $1.36; AFT Pharmaceuticals fell 12c or 2.79 per cent to $4.18; and Move Logistics declined 4c or 2.41 per cent to $1.62.

Online marketing firm Plexure Group confirmed 2022 revenue guidance of $45m-$47m which will include six months trading of its new acquisition Task Retail, to be settled on October 1. Plexure's share price was unchanged at 54c.

The two medicinal cannabis firms reported losses for the year ending June. Cannasouth had a loss of $1.99m on revenue of $83,000 and was unchanged at 41.5c. Rua Bioscience's loss was $4.41m on revenue of $451,000 and its share price decreased 1.5c or 3.66 per cent to 39.5c.

Just Life Group increased its revenue 6.5 per cent to $32.22m for the year ending June after buying three businesses, About Health Supplements, Designer Tanks and The Cylinder Guy. Just Life's profit was up 12.9 per cent to $3.3m and it is paying a final dividend of 1.4c a share. Its price slipped 1c to 90c.

Cavalier Corporation, which has changed its name to carpet brand Bremworth, declined 2c or 303 per cent to 64c after turning a loss of $21.45m in the previous year into a net profit of 1.68m for the 2021 financial year. Revenue was down 5 per cent to $111.57m, and sales of wool carpets increased 17 per cent in the second half. Bremworth has stopped making synthetic carpet in favour of wool.

Allied Farmers gained 1c to 62c after reporting a 111 per cent in profit to $2.57m on revenue of $21.66m, up 7.98 per cent, for the year ending June.