Blue-chip stocks back in favour as sharemarket rises - Market close

Infratil, which owns half of data centre firm CDC, rose 50c or 4.87% to $10.77 on trade worth $58.46m after being upweighted in the NZX index.

Blue-chip stocks were back in favour as the New Zealand sharemarket, looking a little undervalued, closed the week with a broad-based rally of nearly 0.5%.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index had strong momentum in the afternoon and closed at 12,113.54, gaining 58.82 points or 0.49% after reaching an intraday high of 12,188.31. The index was down 1.25% for the week and has fallen more than 7.6% for the year so far.

Trading was extended for the quarterly rebalance of the NZX and FTSE Russell indices, resulting in 177.5 million share transactions worth $737.54 million. Infratil rose 50c or 4.87% to $10.77 on trade worth $58.46m after being upweighted in the NZX index.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said the local market’s price-earnings multiple has fallen below the five-year average and is close to the 10-year average.

“The market has become more attractive for investors and some of them are taking a look,” he said. “And we are continuing to see slightly more positive comments [on outlook] from companies, but there’s still a long way to go.

“Economic growth is back into positive territory, and this has woken up a few people. Not every sector is doing well but tourism, the primary sector and healthcare have been driving activity.”

Only seven of the top 50 stocks had falls. Freightways increased 23c or 2.16% to $10.87; Hallenstein Glasson rose 39c or 5.12% to $8; Ebos Group collected 13c to $37.20; Gentrack added 12c to $10.60; and Channel Infrastructure was up 4c or 2.14% to $1.91.

Chorus increased 16.5c or 2.71% to $7.99; Manawa Energy gained 25c or 5.38% to $4.90; Skellerup Holdings added 14c or 2.93% to $4.92; SkyCity rose 9c or 7.63% to $1.27; Serko was up 15c or 4.05% to $3.85; and Sanford rose 27c or 5.74% to $4.97.

Turners Automotive gained 16c or 2.8% to $5.87; Vulcan Steel increased 41c or 5.01% to $8.60; Spark added 4c or 2.04% to $2; Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund was up 8c to $5.80; and NZX climbed 4c or 2.63% to $1.56.

In the property sector, Stride collected 2c or 1.74% to $1.17; Property for Industry increased 7c or 3.36% to $2.155; Precinct was up 2.5c or 2.23% to $1.145; and Argosy gained 3c or 3.09% to $1.

Mercury Energy was down 15c or 2.63% to $5.56; Meridian eased 8c to $5.32; a2 Milk shed 22c or 2.4% to $8.94; Delegat Group declined 12c or 2.6% to $4.50; ikeGPS decreased 3c or 3.57% to 81c; and Ryman Healthcare, also upweighted in the NZX, was down 7c or 2.55% to $2.67.

The Warehouse increased 2c or 2.44% to 84c after turning around a previous loss of $23.7m to a net profit of $11.79m for the six months ending January 28. Operating earnings (ebit) were $19.5m, down 54.5%, and the retailer is forecasting an ebit loss of about $14m in the second half, similar to the previous corresponding period.

Revenue was down 1.6% to $1.6 billion, with the Warehouse stores down 2.2% to $944.7m, Warehouse Stationery declining 6.6% to $109.8m and Noel Leeming up 0.8% to $548.9m. Gross margins remained under pressure, decreasing 180 basis points to 32.5%.

The Warehouse told the market that “we’ve signalled for some time the 2025 financial year would be tough and that remains the case. A year ago, we were on the back foot but today, we are in far better shape to respond to the uncertainty ahead”.

Solly said The Warehouse result was soft with a cautious outlook but it was better than the market expected.

Other gainers were Blackpearl Group, which has released a new product, increasing 4c or 5.13% to 82c; AFT Pharmaceuticals up 9c or 3.56% to $2.62; Heartland Group adding 2c or 2.56% to 80c; New Talisman Gold Mines collecting 0.004c or 7.,41% to 5.8c; and Chatham Rock Phosphate increasing 0.008c or 8.79% to 9.9c.

NZME, down 1c to $1.14, confirmed it had been in discussions with Stuff Ltd but these were now on hold after the move by major shareholder Jim Grenon to propose board changes at the annual meeting.