Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer with Octagon Asset Management, said passive investment funds would need to buy Hallenstein Glasson shares to match its index weighting.
“That represents about 1.4 million shares. Hallenstein is not a highly liquid stock and the funds will have to buy at any price. Maybe some of them have moved early on the strong suspicion that it will be included in the top 50,” he said.
There were 182 Hallenstein Glasson trades worth $471,400. Hallenstein Glasson confirmed in its interim report a 74.8 per cent increase in net profit to $20.82m on revenue of $223.29m, up 30.9 per cent, for the six months ending February 1. The previous corresponding period was impacted by Covid.
Hallenstein Glasson said the trading environment for the first eight weeks of the winter season has been challenging with cost of living and inflationary pressures impacting consumers’ discretionary spend. But group sales were 13.9 per cent ahead and the company warned that significant challenges are expected to continue.
Robertshawe said the local market was livelier, taking a strong lead from Wall Street and experiencing end-of-the-month flows with portfolio rebalancing.
The technology giants Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft and Apple have exceeded market expectations with their first-quarter results. Meta was up nearly 14 per cent to US$238.56.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.57 per cent to 33,826.16 points; S&P Index gained 1.96 per cent to 4135.35; and the technology-driven Nasadaq Composite rose 2.43 per cent to 12,142.24 and is up 16 per cent for the year.
It was the best day since January for the Dow Jones and S&P 500 and since March for the Nasdaq.
At home, market leaders Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 44c to $27.68; Spark gained 7c to $5.23; and Infratil increased 23c or 2.47 per cent to $9.55.
Energy stocks were strong. Meridian increased 24c or 4.65 per cent to $5.46; Contact added 10c to $7.83; and Mercury was up 9c to $6.34.
Ryman Healthcare added 7c to $5.30; Serko was up 4c or 1.94 per cent to $2.10; Kiwi Property increased 2c or 2.22 per cent to 92c; and My Food Bag collected 1c or 5 per cent to 21c.
Synlait Milk improved 5c or 3.21 per cent to $1.61, and a2 Milk was up 3c to $5.90.
Restaurant Brands continued its strong run, rising 13c or 1.78 per cent to $7.43 and gaining more than $1 in the past week.
Smartpay Holdings increased 10c or 6.9 per cent to $1.65; T&G Global was up 5c or 2.49 per cent to $2.06; Embark Education rose 6c or 10.53 per cent to 63c; Foley Wines added 3c or 2.27 per cent to $1.35; and Move Logistics gained 4c or 4.55 per cent to 92c.
Ebos Group was down 26c to $44.30; Port of Tauranga fell 23c or 3.52 per cent to $6.341; Briscoe Group decreased 8c or 1.75 per cent to $4.50; Winton Land shed 5c or 2.44 per cent to $2; and MHM Automation declined 3c or 3.23 per cent to 90c.
NZ Automotive Investments rose 4c or 15.38 per cent to 30c after telling the market it has arranged a replacement trade finance facility for its retail brand, 2 Cheap Cars.
NZ Auto is expecting net profit of $1.3m – including one-off restructuring costs of $1m - for the year ending March compared with $2.6m in the previous corresponding period.
Cannasouth declined 0.005c to 29c after shareholders backed the merger with Katikati-based medicinal cannabis company Eqalis Group. Cannasouth said it has already obtained binding investment commitments for $4.2m of its $9m capital raise. Fellow medicinal cannabis stock Rua Bioscience added 0.007c or 3.89 per cent to 18.7c.
NZ Rural Land Company, unchanged at 89c, has bought a further 737ha forestry property in the Manawatu-Whanganui region for $8m. Like the previous purchase, the property is leased to New Zealand Forest Leasing for 16 years.
