Market close: Travel and leisure stocks bounce back

Contact Energy rose 5c to $8.09. Photo / Supplied

Travel and leisure stocks gained the spotlight with a nice bounce-back as the New Zealand sharemarket began the shortened week with a small gain.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index gained strength in the afternoon after a strong opening on the Australian market. The NZX index finished the day up 39.77 points or 0.32 per cent to 12,319.34, after reaching a morning low of 12,249.98.

There were 70 gainers and 64 decliners across the whole market, with 30.29 million shares worth $134.1 million changing hands.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the local market was quiet and liquidity was poor, which "accentuates the volatility we have been seeing. Our market followed a late sell-off in the United States in the morning trading but then Australia was up strongly."

The S&P/ASX 200 Index had increased 1.2 per cent to 7196.3 points at 5.45pm NZ time. Suncorp, which owns Vero Insurance in New Zealand, was up 5.65 per cent to A$12.045 ($12.91) after reporting a healthy six-month result to the end of December.

Goodson said Suncorp believed it will be able to capture the significant inflationary pressures by increasing premiums, and this was an interesting statement for the New Zealand insurance market.

There were no corporate announcements but Air New Zealand suddenly rose 7.5c or 4.72 per cent to $1.665; SkyCity Entertainment gained 18c or 6.19 per cent to $3.09; and online travel provider Serko rebounded 15c or 2.88 per cent to $5.359.

Contact Energy, up 5c to $8.09, reported its new Tauhara geothermal power station near Taupo – coming on-stream in the second half of 2023 – will generate 168 megawatts instead 152 megawatts, and it will cost $818m to build, up from the initial estimate of $678m.

Goodson said it was encouraging that the geothermal resource was a little bigger but this was offset by the capital expenditure blow-out. "That's not unexpected in the inflationary times we live in and it should not have a material impact on Contact or the market."

Meridian Energy told the market it was not in discussions with the owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter about a new electricity contract. The existing contract ends on December 31, 2024, and Meridian's share price was up 6c to $4.85.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare gained 44c to $29.94; EBOS Group rose 77c or 1.93 per cent to $40.77; Skellerup Holdings increased 10c to $6.49; Pushpay Holdings collected 2c or 1.83 per cent to $1.11; and EROAD was up 9c or 2.09 per cent to $4.40.

Among the retailers, Briscoe Group rose 13c or 2.13 per cent to $6.23; Michael Hill International was up 6c or 4.08 per cent to $1.53; and The Warehouse Group was down 9c or 2.77 per cent to $3.16.

Other gainers were Synlait Milk rising 9c or 2.69 per cent to $3.44; a2 Milk up 6c to $5.70; Sky Network Television increasing 4c to $2.55; Turners Automotive improving 11c or 2.61 per cent to $4.32; Kingfish Investment fund up 7c or 4 per cent to $1.82; and NZ Automotive Investments collecting 3c or 3.37 per cent to 92c.

Transtasman chemicals business DGL Group increased 5c to $2.95 after buying a 1.78ha industrial property in Rocklea, a suburb in Brisbane, for $11m.

Mainfreight was down $1.50 to $86.50; Freightways decreased 33c or 2.62 per cent to $12.27; Chorus shed 7c to $6.855; and PGG Wrightson, a strong performer lately, declined 22c or 3.85 per cent to $5.50.

Retirement village operator Summerset Group Holdings had a late fall, down 20c to $12.10.

Property for Industry fell 9.5c or 3.33 per cent to $2.755; Rakon decreased 6c or 3.19 per cent to $1.82; Steel & Tube shed 5c or 3.11 per cent to $1.56; Winton Land was down 6c to $3.40; and New Zealand Rural Land Company declined 5c or 4.2 per cent to $1.14.

Online personal lender Harmoney has arranged a new A$150m facility to push for further growth in the Australian market. Harmoney's Australian loan book increased 83 per cent last year, and its share price was down 7c or 3.95 per cent to $1.70.