“Consumers in New Zealand have been resilient and with high employment they haven’t seen a slowdown yet. That is concentrated in a few sectors such as building and dairying.
“Inflation is coming down and globally economies may be moving from a hard to soft landing. This sentiment has flowed through the markets and even to New Zealand,” Solly said.
Kiwibank has predicted that the Reserve Bank will cut the official cash rate (OCR) in November as the economy heads into a recession – after one more increase of 25 basis points next month.
Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr is confident inflation has peaked and said a further OCR hike is not needed. “It may push the economy into a bigger than necessary slump.”
Retailers Briscoe Group was up 14c or 3.04 per cent to $4.74, and Hallenstein Glasson increased 15c or 2.78 per cent to $5.55. Meal kit company My Food Bag was up 1c or 5 per cent to 21c, and seafood company Sanford gained 10c or 2.47 per cent to $4.15.
Fast food operator Restaurant Brands rose 16c or 2.37 per cent to $6 after reporting a 12 per cent or $33.2m increase in total sales to $308.6m for the first quarter ending March.
New Zealand sales were up 9.2 per cent to $129.4m, Australia’s 15.5 per cent to $73.7m, Hawaii 9.3 per cent to $61.8m, and California 0.3 per cent to $43.7m. Restaurant Brands’ sales growth was supported by 12 additional stores.
Market leaders Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and Meridian Energy did some heavy lifting, rising 51c or 1.89 per cent to $27.55 and 12c or 2.27 per cent to $5.40 respectively.
Other energy stocks were busy. Contact was up 7c to $7.65; Mercury added 6c to $6.26; Manawa increased 8c to $4.90; Genesis added 4c to $2.75; while Vector was down 5c to $4.02.
Ebos Group was up 20c to $45.70; Mainfreight collected 99c to $72.99; Port of Tauranga increased 12c or 1.88 per cent to $6.50; Freightways gained 10c to $9.49; Summerset was up 6c to $8.22; and Heartland Group rose 4c or 2.55 per cent to $1.61.
Other gainers were Arvida Group up 2c or 1.92 per cent to $1.06; Delegat Group increasing 24c or 2.74 per cent to $9; Rakon improving 4c or 4.4 per cent to 95c; and Bremworth adding 2c or 5.88 per cent to 36c.
Property companies Kiwi was up 1c to 89c, Argosy gained 1.5 to $1.13; and Vital Healthcare Trust gained 2.5c to $2.295.
Insurer Tower, up 0.005 to 61.5c, has had its A- financial strength rating reaffirmed by global agency AM Best.
Task Group increased 4.5c or 11.69 per cent to 43c after confirming it has exceeded its guidance with full-year revenue of $65m and operating earnings (ebitda) of $12m.
Skellerup Holdings decreased 6c to $4.80; AFT Pharmaceuticals was down 5c to $3.45; Smartpay Holdings declined 4.5c or 3.18 per cent to 1.77 per cent to $1.37; and Steel & Tube shed 2c or 1.87 per cent to $1.05.
Vital fell 4c or 13.79 per cent to 25c; NZ King Salmon Investments decreased 1c or 4.65 per cent to 20.5c; T&G Global shed 4c or 1.95 per cent to $2.01; and Carbon Fund declined 4c or 2.11 per cent to $1.86.
Synlait Milk remained in a trading halt, and Solly said: “We don’t know what is happening. But the longer an announcement is delayed the more cynical investors become.”
He said the company is in a sticky place in terms of cash flow, and the right thing to do is take extra time to get a financial restructure in place, if that is what’s needed.
