Market close: Vista Group shares a beneficiary of surging Nasdaq

Vista, a provider of software and technology solutions across the film industry, rose 3.4 per cent to $1.54 by the end of the day. Photo / 123RF

The United States’ Nasdaq index jumped to highs not seen since April last year during Monday trading but those offshore gains weren’t reflected in New Zealand’s tech stock sector today.

Devon Funds’ head of retail, Greg Smith, said in the US, the technology sector had “propelled” the gains the Nasdaq saw on Monday, with the tech-heavy stock exchange surging 1.5 per cent on Monday – closing at its highest level since April 2022.

He said the Nasdaq rally had been concentrated in larger-cap stocks operating in more international waters which was why NZ tech stocks hadn’t budged by much.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 37.3 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 11,652.84. Turnover was $118 million.

Transport software company Eroad was down more than 7 per cent in mid-afternoon trading but ended the day flat at 76 cents per share.

Travel management software firm Serko dipped 2.7 per cent to $3.55.

Cinema software firm Vista Group went in the other direction due to its business in the US market.

Smith said Vista was a good example of how companies outside of the US with “more global exposure than domestic” had benefited from Nasdaq’s jump.

Vista rose 3.4 per cent to $1.54 by the end of the day.

Scott Technology did enjoy some of the positive run-off from offshore, with the stock up 1.1 per cent to $2.74.

Timing solutions company Rakon fell by 2.2 per cent to 90 cents.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 1.5 per cent to $23.91 and Ebos Group rose 1.9 per cent to $36.26.

Air NZ traded the most volume and edged up 1.3 per cent to 79 cents.

Auckland International Airport also had a much better time than recently and ended trading up 1.2 per cent to $8.60.

It made up some of the loss the stock incurred on Monday when it was dragged down almost 3 per cent as investors mulled over the state of the company and responded to Auckland council’s partial divestment decision last week.

Smith said retail stocks had a mixed day after falling on Monday, with Briscoes, The Warehouse, and Hallenstein Glassons all down over 2 per cent.

It coincided with Statistics NZ releasing its retail electronic card spending for May on Monday. Seasonally adjusted total retail card spending fell by $113m in May, down 1.3 per cent from April.

Briscoe Group edged down 0.7 per cent to $4.22 and Hallenstein Glassons edged up 0.3 per cent to $5.92 on light value traded.

The Warehouse was flat at $1.64 per share while jeweller Michael Hill fell 2 per cent to 97 cents.

KMD Brands rose 0.9 per cent to $1.08.

Smith said today’s recoveries in the retail sector were “fairly modest” in most instances.

“The reality is the consumers are still pressurised and the sugar rush is well and truly over.”

Diversified infrastructure group Infratil opened its $100m retail offering for existing investors following a $750m mainly institutional placement that attracted bids well above what was on offer.

The infrastructure investor’s eligible shareholders will be able to buy up to $80,000 of shares at $9.20 each – roughly 8,966 shares.

Infratil may accept oversubscriptions or scale the offering at its discretion.

Smith said the offer appeared to be liked by the market as the stock was up earlier in the afternoon although it had edged down by 0.7 per cent to $9.79 by early evening.

Reverse-listed WasteCo Group fell 4 per cent to 7.2 cents after it announced earlier today that it had raised $4.32m from new investors, selling 66.5 million shares at 6.5 cents each.

In the banking sector, Heartland Group was up 1.2 per cent to $1.68. ANZ Bank rose 0.6 per cent to $25.28 and Westpac NZ was up 1.1 per cent to $22.50.

London-headquartered bank HSBC announced it was quitting wealth and personal banking in NZ.

It said it won’t be accepting new retail customers as it winds down the local business over several years and focuses on its commercial division.

On the currency front, the NZ dollar was trading at 61.19 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, barely moving from 61.17 cents on Monday.