Market close: NZ shares post another significant rise

Mainfreight climbed $5.14 or 6.06 per cent to $89.99. Photo / Supplied

An energised New Zealand sharemarket posted its third significant rise of the week, up nearly 2 per cent, and boosted by another growth spurt from Mainfreight, which never fails to deliver.

Mainfreight, supported by Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and Auckland International Airport, pushed the S&P/NZX 50 Index to 12,289.64, up 230.69 points or 1.91 per cent. It nearly matched last year's biggest single day rise of 2.05 per cent set on December 8.

The top 10 stocks on the NZX also had a healthy 2.72 per cent rise. The NZX 50 Index has now gained 3.65 per cent so far this week after falling more than 9.10 per cent in January. The January rout has turned into a February revival.

There were 107 gainers and just 34 decliners across the whole market, with 37.29 million shares worth $156.83 million changing hands.

A 3.2 per cent unemployment rate – the lowest since records began in 1986 – and rising wage inflation now reaching 2.6 per cent due to the tight labour force didn't unnerve the sharemarket.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager for Harbour Asset Management, said "we've seen an absolute ripper (of a result) from Mainfreight, and there were also a bunch of strong results out of the United States overnight."

Solly said it was a timely reminder that earnings drive stock prices. "Up till now, we have had a vacuum of results and information from companies. This has put the markets at the beckoning of central banks and they have done a good job at scaring people over rising interest rates. We are now seeing quite a broad recovery in 'growthy' stocks."

Global transport and logistics company Mainfreight climbed $5.14 or 6.06 per cent to $89.99 after reporting a 45 per cent increase in revenue to $4.134 billion and an 85 per cent rise in gross profit to $372.02m for the 43 weeks ending December.

The Asian division revenue was up 121 per cent and profit 239 per cent, and the Americas revenue grew 86 per cent and profit 293 per cent.

Mainfreight said the financial results were a continuation of the increasing freight volumes and elevated freight rates, and also reflected improving financial performance across Asia, Europe and Americas businesses.

"Navigating constraints due to Omicron-enforced absenteeism remains a priority, and our intensive network model, with multiple branches and warehouses, provides us with access to alternatives should we encounter infection issues at specific sites," Mainfreight said.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare continued its rise back to $30, gaining 73c or 2.52 per cent to $29.73 on trade worth $18.89m.

Freightways was up 20c to $12.28; EBOS Group increased 32c to $39.60; Summerset Group Holdings rose 22c or 1.82 to $12.30; Fletcher Building gained 9c to $6.57; and Chorus was up 7c to $7.07.

Auckland International Airport rose 39.5c or 5.51 per cent to $7.57 a day before it gets more certainty when the government announces its latest plan for reopening the border. The same applied to Air New Zealand, which increased 4c or 2.72 per cent to $1.51.

Among the energy companies, Contact rose 21c or 2.68 per cent to $8.06; Meridian was up 10c or 2.22 per cent to $4.60; Mercury increased 6c to $5.61; Genesis gained 11c or 4.01 per cent to $2.85; and Vector collected 11c or 2.86 per cent to $3.95. Utilities investor Infratil was up 19c or 2.49 per cent to $7.83.

The Warehouse Group rose 16c or 5.3 per cent to $3.18; a2 Milk collected 9c to $5.71; Synlait Milk picked up 11c or 3.29 per cent to $3.45; NZME gained another 5c or 3.91 per cent to $1.33; and Property for Industry increased 5c to $2.85.

Vista Group collected 8c or 3.77 per cent to $2.20; SkyCity Entertainment gained 4c to $2.84; Steel & Tube also increased 4c or 2.6 per cent to $1.58; Comvita was up 9c or 2.67 per cent to $3.46; Rakon recovered another 4c or 2.16 per cent to $1.89; and Fonterra Shareholders' Fund gained 9c or 2.57 per cent to $3.59.

Pushpay Holdings, up 2c or 1.82 per cent to $1.12, has appointed American software executive Jason Rupert as chief growth officer.

Amongst the few decliners, Gentrack fell 7c or 3.72 to $1.81, and NZX was down 3c to $1.73.

Insurer Tower was up 3.5c or 5.22 per cent to 70.5c after reporting 12 per cent growth in gross written premium to $112m for three months ending December compared with the previous corresponding period. Customer numbers increased 6000 over the quarter to 310,000, and Tower, which is making a capital return of $30.4m to shareholders, confirmed its net profit guidance of $21m-$25m.

Kiwifruit grower and packer Seeka has completed the amalgamation with Gisborne-based NZ Fruits and Seeka's share price gained 5c to $5.14.