Market close: Travel stocks rise on quiet day for stock market

Air new Zealand rose 4 per cent to 64.5 cents. Photo / Getty Images

The sharemarket had a bit more skip in its step today, with the index moving into positive territory by end of the day's trading.

There was slightly more more news – Fletcher Building announcing it was ramping up plasterboard production and NZ Automotive Investments saying it had lost the support of its financier – but the market was still reasonably quiet ahead of earnings season.

The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 50.6 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 11,753.48. Turnover on the main board was light at just $83.6 million.

Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene said the market was expecting "robust" numbers from company earnings but said it was also going to come down to companies' outlook statements.

"But most companies won't be able to give too much of a solid outlook, just like they haven't been able to for the last couple of years," he said. "It's a tricky one to analyse, really, as it's all about what's coming up – and no one's got a good read on that."

Fletcher Building slipped 0.19 per cent to $5.37 after it said it had picked up the pace of its plasterboard production and expects to meet market demand by October, because of a winter slowdown in construction.

Trade Window shares dipped 2.6 per cent to 74 cents after the import and export software company announced chief operating officer Gavin de Steur was resigning from his role at the end of August. De Steur will remain involved in a consultancy capacity for the company for a period of time, the company told the NZX.

Chief executive AJ Smith said he understood that De Steur had decided to attend to a family business and his family going forward.

"Gavin has been a strong and highly valued contributor to our business since he joined in 2020," he said.

Smith said the COO role would not be filled at this stage and the role's duties would be spread among Trade Window's executive team.

Medicinal cannabis company Cannasouth released findings from its three-year neuropathic pre-clinical pain study today. The company said the study confirmed that cannabinoids from medicinal cannabis could be effective at reducing "debilitating neuropathic pain" which Cannasouth said affects about 400,000 New Zealanders – 8 per cent of the country's population.

Chief scientific officer David Gill told the NZX that neuropathic pain is currently "poorly managed" by the traditional first-line treatment options available in NZ, and the implications from Cannasouth's study findings were "significant".

"Cannabinoids could provide a much-needed alternative treatment option for doctors and patients," he said. "By releasing some of our findings, we want to bring doctors and patients along with us on this journey of discovery." Cannasouth's shares were flat at 41 cents at the end of the day.

Auckland Airport rose 1.11 per cent to $7.715, and Air NZ rose 4 per cent to 64.5 cents. Davies said the airline's shares were "jumping up quite nicely" compared to a year earlier – but still had some way to go to make it back to 2019 levels.

Metro Performance Glass said residential and commercial builders should expect to pay more for glass due to hikes in the price of imported raw products and impending changes to thermal code requirements. The NZX-listed firm said it plans to add another 5 per cent price increase to its products next month, bringing cumulative price escalations to 31 per cent over the past 12 months. Its shares were flat at 25 cents per share in early evening trading.

NZ Automotive Investments revealed it had been told by the commercial bank that provides its trade and motor finance facilities – which it wouldn't name – that the lender was unable to give any assurance of support for those facilities beyond their current expiry dates.

NZAI shares still lifted 6 per cent to 53 cents by the end of the day.

On the currency front, the NZ dollar was trading at 62.76 US cents at 5pm, down from 62.93 on Monday.