Mercury Energy hits new all-time high as NZ sharemarket stages turnaround - Market close

Mercury Energy increased 15c or 2.14 per cent to $7.15, eclipsing its previous peak of $7.13 set on January 1, 2021.

The New Zealand sharemarket staged a major turnaround with Mercury Energy hitting an all-time high and property stocks continuing to rebound.

Following a sharp fall on Wall Street, the S&P/NZX 50 Index fell at the opening and reached a morning low of 11,656.38 points. But the index picked up steam during the afternoon, particularly in the end-of-day matching session, and closed at 11,795.9, up 42.88 points or 0.36 per cent.

There were 71 gainers and 56 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 35.67 million share transactions worth $139.51 million.

David McConnochie, investment adviser with Forsyth Barr, said it was another quiet day news-wise on the market. “With the reporting season out of the way, the market will muddle along till the dividends are paid.”

Some of the big tech stocks in the United States took a dive, dragging the major indices away from record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.04 per cent to 38,585.19 points; S&P 500 declined 1.02 per cent to 5078.65; and Nasdaq Composite fell 1.65 per cent to 15,939.59.

Apple declined 2.84 per cent to US$170.12 after a report said iPhone sales in China plunged in the first six weeks of this year. Netflix was down 2.81 per cent to US$598.5, Microsoft declined 2.96 per cent to US$402.65, and Tesla fell 3.93 per cent to US$180.74.

Amazon, which recently replaced Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 30-stock Dow Jones index, was down 1.95 per cent to US$174.12. The S&P 500′s information technology sector was down more than 2 per cent.

The latest Global Dairy Trade auction saw the index fall 2.3 per cent following four consecutive rises. Whole milk powder declined 2.8 per cent to US$3286 per metric tonne and skim milk powder was down 5.2 per cent to US$2640 a tonne.

At home, Mercury Energy increased 15c or 2.14 per cent to $7.15, eclipsing its previous peak of $7.13 set on January 1, 2021.

In the property sector, Goodman Trust rose 8c or 3.64 per cent to $2.28; Vital Healthcare Trust gained 5.4c or 2.7 per cent to $2.07; Stride increased 4c or 3.17 per cent to $1.30; Argosy added 1.5c to $1.12; and Property for Industry was up 3c to $2.225.

Leading stocks Fisher and Paykel Healthcare turned around from an intraday low of $24.01 and gained 6c to $24.75; while Mainfreight was up 25c to $68 after reaching $67.01 during the day.

Meridian Energy declined 8c to $5.92; Contact also decreased 8c to $8.22; Ebos Group was down 22c to $36.43; Skellerup shed 6c to $4.35; and Napier Port fell 7c or 2.81 per cent to $2.42.

Infratil increased 18c or 1.74 per cent to $10.52; Summerset Group was up 15c to $11.25; a2 Milk gained 7c to $6.18; Seeka rose 14c or 5.28 per cent to $2.79; Ventia Services added 7c to a new high of $4.17; and Arvida Group collected 2c or 2.04 per cent to $1.

McConnochie said a broker research report, following Infratil’s investor day, headlined the reinvestment opportunities and growth for the company.

Other gainers were Blackpearl Group rising 3c or 5.26 per cent to 60c; CDL Investments increasing 5c or 7.14 per cent to 75c; and Pacific Edge picking up 0.008c or 9.3 per cent to 9.4c.

Amongst the decliners, Winton Land was down 7c or 2.94 per cent to $2.31; Michael Hill decreased 3c or 4 per cent to 72c; T&G Global shed 4c or 2.25 per cent to $1.74; Eroad gave up 2c or 2.53 per cent to 77c; and NZ Oil and Gas was down 2c or 4.55 per cent to 42c.

Technology firm ikeGPS gained 2c or 4.44 per cent to 47c after telling the market it has signed a $800,000 three-year subscription agreement with another Fortune 500 company that has four million customers on the United States east coast.

Since launching the PoleForeman monitoring product last year, ikeGPS has signed more than 30 customers representing total contract value of $6m.

Metro Performance Glass fell 1.5c or 12 per cent to 11c after revising its full-year operating earnings (ebit) to $7m-$8m compared with $11.8m in the 2023 financial year.

Metro has just closed its Wellington glass processing factory and a regional branch in Auckland, as well as reducing staff in New Zealand by 10 per cent. Metro said the sale of Australia Glass Group to reduce debt is taking longer than expected.

MHM Automation was delisted from the NZX following the completion of the takeover by United States-based Bettcher Industries.