Airport leads shares to record high

SkyCity put on a decent display yesterday, shooting up 2.1 per cent to $4.79 on quite heavy turnover. Photo / Richard Robinson

New Zealand shares hit another record high in light turnover, with Auckland International Airport, SkyCity Entertainment Group and Moa Group gaining, while Comvita fell.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 48.87 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 7154.83. Within the index, 24 stocks rose, 14 fell and 13 were unchanged. Turnover was $129 million.

"The market's pretty quiet, albeit there have been some large lines going through, which appear to be a portfolio - it could be the loss of a mandate or an asset allocation, but it does seem to be in names that are owned quite reasonably by offshore shareholders," said Rickey Ward, New Zealand equity manager at JBWere.

Those names included SkyCity Entertainment, which gained 2.1 per cent to $4.79, Meridian Energy, which rose 1.1 per cent to $2.68, and Air New Zealand, which dropped 1.6 percent to $2.23, Ward said.

SkyCity had 3 million shares traded yesterday while Air New Zealand had 2.32 million traded, both higher than their 30-day average.

Auckland International Airport led the index, up 3.2 per cent to $7.09, and has gained 19.5 per cent this year.

Kiwi Property Group advanced 1.6 per cent to $1.57 and Fletcher Building was up 1.4 per cent to $9.24.

Comvita was the worst performer, down 1.8 per cent to $11.20.

Westpac Banking Corp fell 1.5 per cent to $31.98 and Summerset Group Holdings shed 1.1 per cent to $4.64.

Tower fell 0.4 per cent to $1.38. Chief financial officer Brett Wilson has resigned 16 months after the general insurer recruited him from Seniors Money International.

"People might take it as a bit of a surprise, but it didn't point to anything untoward, and we understand it's purely a personal decision," Ward said.

"It's pretty hard to read anything into it other than he's decided to move on."

Outside the main bourse, Moa Group gained 10.1 per cent to 87c. The Marlborough-based brewer got a price inquiry last Wednesday after the shares rose 47.5 per cent between June 27 and that day, to a peak of 87c from 59c.

"Goodness only knows what's driving that, but it's gone straight up since the end of last month," Ward said. "One would assume it might get another price inquiry - the share price has skyrocketed, admittedly on light volume, and you can hardly argue it's regaining lost ground as it's been on an upward trajectory for some time."

Oceania Natural was unchanged at $2.45.

The food supplements maker, which listed on the NXT at the end of March, has raised about $3.5 million from investors in a joint venture to establish a Hong Kong-based subsidiary.