New Zealand shares rose in a mixed day for Asia, with Infratil’s investor day last week appearing to have won over any naysayers on its data centre business as the infrastructure investor paced gains for the benchmark index.
The S&P/NZX 50 index advanced 58.58 points, or 0.5%, to 12,067.92, on a moderate turnover of $142.2 million. That was one of the stronger performers across Asia, with Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index up 0.2% in late trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.5%.
Futures are pointing to a 0.9% decline for the S&P 500, with Nvidia warning it will book a US$5.5 billion charge on its quarterly earnings because of a new licence for exporting its H20 processors to China and other countries.
Infratil rose 3.9% to $10.40 and is up 7% so far this week. The infrastructure investor took its investors on a site visit of its CDC Data Centres business last week to explain the virtues of the business, given the souring global sentiment on artificial intelligence infrastructure in recent weeks.
“One thing they do particularly well is have long-term contracts,” said Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management. “That does given them a degree of certainty that others perhaps lack.”
Heartland Group Holdings led the benchmark index higher, climbing 7.1% to 75 cents after the financial services firm said it’s on track to achieve annual underling earnings of at least $45 million in the June year.
Goodson said Heartland has been struggling since its first-half downgrade, and that today’s third-quarter update indicated the firm is on track.
“It’s been under pressure, and we’ve seen a decent relief rally,” he said.
The dual-listed banks also rallied, following financial stocks higher on Wall Street where the likes of Bank of America and Citigroup outperformed earnings expectations. ANZ Group Holdings rose 2.7% to $30.29 and Westpac Banking Corp advanced 1.7% to $33.71.
Not all peachy keen
Tourism Holdings posted the biggest decline on the benchmark index, falling 2.4% to $1.61, while Meridian Energy slipped 2.2% to $5.74 after its latest monthly operating update showed inflows into its hydro storage remained weak.
Mercury NZ was unchanged at $5.78 after downgrading its earnings guidance due to the dry weather and projected low lake levels.
Air New Zealand was unchanged at 87.5 cents after trimming its earnings outlook with a smaller compensation from engine makers than it anticipated. Auckland International Airport declined 0.5% to $7.97.
Spark New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock on a volume of 7.9 million shares, rising 0.7% to $2.06. The telco announced a strategic agreement with Infosys to support its technology delivery, which is part of its efforts to cut costs.
Chorus was unchanged at $8 after the government said telecommunications will be the next subject of its regulatory reviews.
NZX declined 0.7% to $1.46, with an unusually large volume of 6 million shares. Of that, 5.9 million shares changed hands at $1.45 apiece.
Black Pearl Group slipped 1.5% to 67 cents after reporting an acceleration in annual recurring revenue growth in the fourth quarter, with a skinnier gross margin and a reduction in churn.
Scales Corp advanced 1.5% to $4.12 after lifting its stake of its Shelby pet foods joint venture in the US, while Scott Technology declined 1% to $2.02 after reporting stable first-half profit on a 14% decline in revenue.
Vital Healthcare Property Trust fell 2% to $1.68 after announcing the departure of manager Aaron Hockley next month.
The kiwi dollar traded at 59.19 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 58.97 cents at 7am and 59.23 cents yesterday.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Taylor Vick on Unsplash.