Market close: Tech stocks end week on high as sharemarket dips

Photo / NZME

Cancer diagnostic company Pacific Edge's shares ended the week on a bright note as it continued its high-riding streak of recent days.

The company's shares were up 5 per cent to 84 cents on the news that its volume numbers for its cancer test increased 32 per cent in the same quarter last year and the Southern District health region is picking up its bladder tests.

Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said Pacific Edge's increase in test numbers was "very good" but ultimately the market is waiting for its revenue and it would be the next step for the company to accomplish.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 6.5 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 11,302.54. Turnover was on the light side at $94 million. Although the index ended the week down 6 points, McIntyre said New Zealand's market had been up most of the day due to the fact that news around "anything that isn't about interest rates is currently being seen as good news to the market".

He said the index was up 5.6 per cent from a month earlier and with the next earnings season quickly approaching, investors had high hopes as there had been very little bad news.

McIntyre said it had been a good week for the technology sector in the United States which had flowed through into NZ's technology market and it was why technology stocks had ended the week high.

Utility pole management company IkeGPS was up 8 per cent to 81 cents as well and McIntyre said the stock was still enjoying the positive response from the company's trading update yesterday which showed first-quarter revenue was up 162 per cent on the same quarter last year – around $6.8m.

Fleet company Eroad also rose 1 per cent to $2.01 after struggling to climb earlier in the week. Vulcan Steel was up 6.5 per cent to $9.61 after it announced today it had signed a deal to acquire Ullrich Aluminium Company for about $165m. The dual-listed steel distributor has entered into a conditional sales and purchase agreement with Gilbert Ullrich – the founder and sole shareholder of the Auckland-headquartered aluminium company – to purchase his company for about A$149m ($165m).

McIntyre said the market liked the fact that Vulcan was acquiring businesses and growing revenue on the side but didn't think it would have a material impact on other building stocks like Fletcher Building and Steel & Tube Holdings.

Steel & Tube Holdings was down 0.74 per cent to $1.34 and Fletcher Building was down 0.19 per cent to $5.27 today.

On the hospitality front, Foley Wines shares were flat at $1.45 per share on the news that Foley Holdings had purchased Soul Bar owner Nourish Group for an undisclosed sum.

Kiwibank economists said in a note this morning that the European Central Bank had hiked all cash rates by 50 basis points overnight, which came as a surprise to the markets even though a 50bp hike was likely to be part of the central bank's considerations.

On the back of the hike, the euro strengthened which pushed the US dollar lower. The NZ dollar was trading at 62.38 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 62.22 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index was at 71.12, from 71.04.