Market close: Retirement stocks at forefront of sharemarket rally

Oceania Healthcare gained 2c or 2.35 per cent to 87c. Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand sharemarket broke through the 12,000 points level as it continued one of its best runs in two years with a broad-based rally.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed at 12,023.46, up 28.95 points or 0.24 per cent after reaching an intraday low of 11,968.82 – and the 12,000 mark was last achieved in early April last year. The index has now risen on 12 of the 17 trading days this year.

There were 80 gainers and 47 decliners across the whole market on volume of 22.65 million share transactions worth $82.6 million changing hands. But trading was quiet with Australian investors absent and taking a break on the Australia Day public holiday.

So far this month the NZX 50 index has risen 4.7 per cent and was only bettered on a monthly basis by July last year and August 2021. The index fell 12 per cent last year – the worst since 2008.

“We are enjoying a nice little rally which is appreciated. The market didn’t have any leads from across the Tasman, and going through 12,000 points is significant from a psychological perspective, but there is still lots of uncertainty out there,” said Mark Lister, investment director with Craigs Investment Partners.

“The United States reporting season has been reasonably solid but companies are being cautious in their outlooks for the rest of the year – and that may be the case for our companies when they report next month,” he said.

Lister said the upcoming ANZ Business Outlook survey will be closely watched. “It will be interesting to see whether business confidence has bounced after plummeting to its lowest level in December.”

The central banks in United States, England and European will next week provide their latest monetary policy moves, with investors waiting to see if the pace of interest rate rises slow.

At home, the retirement village stocks are at the forefront of the rally. Ryman Healthcare was up a further 14c or 2.2 per cent to $6.509; Arvida Group increased 4c or 3.51 per cent to $1.18; and Oceania Healthcare gained 2c or 2.35 per cent to 87c.

Fletcher Building increased 8c to $5.19; a2 Milk was up 9c to $7.35; Napier Port collected 11c or 3.82 per cent to $2.99; Tourism Holdings added 11c or 2.92 per cent to $3.88; and Serko rose 16c or 6.58 per cent to $2.59 following its positive trading update.

Utilities software firm Gentrack picked up a further 8c or 2.76 per cent to $2.98, rising from $1.70 set on November 25.

Sky TV gained 4c or 1.7 per cent to $2.39; MHM Automation was up 3c or 3.57 per cent to 87c; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ increased 5c or 2.38 per cent to $2.15; and ikeGPS rose 5c or 5.38 per cent to 98c.

Green Cross Health added 5c or 3.73 per cent to $1.39; Just Life Group collected 2c or 5.41 per cent to 39c; and Move Logistics was up 2c or 1.85 per cent to $1.10.

Pacific Edge gained 1.5c or 3.16 per cent to 49c. The cancer diagnostics company has been struggling to make headway since plunging to 48.5c on August 1 last year.

In the energy sector, Meridian was up 1.5c to $5.365. Mercury Energy, gaining 2.5c to $5.955, experienced its wettest first half year ever and hydro generation surged 38 per cent or 352GWh to 1281GWh for the three months ending December. There were 35,000 new connections in the quarter.

Vector, increasing 6c to $6.46, increased electricity connections 19.2 per cent in the six months ending December compared with the previous corresponding period, and 1.7 per cent for the year. Gas connections grew 1 per cent for the year but were down 23.2 per cent for the last six months.

Electricity volume was up 1.4 per cent for the second half and gas distribution increased 2.9 per cent in the Auckland region.

Retailers Briscoe Group was down 4c to $4.53; Hallenstein Glasson also declined 4c to $5.16; and Michael Hill International increased 5c or 4.31 per cent to $1.21.

Property companies Goodman Trust was down 4c or 1.9 per cent to $2.07, and Precinct Properties declined 1.5c to $1.255.

Ebos Group was down 52c to $45.08; Winton Land decreased 6c or 3.28 per cent to $1.77; Geneva Finance fell 2.5c or 5.1 per cent to 46.5c; Bremworth declined 2c or 4.26 per cent to 45c; and NZ Automotive Investments shed 1.5c or 4.62 per cent to 31c.

Chief executive Hugh Stevens is leaving Smartshares which operates exchange traded funds and is a subsidiary of NZX. Smartshares has more than 119,000 investors and $8 billion worth of funds under management. NZX’s share price was unchanged at $1.25.