New Zealand shares joined a rally across Australia, where banks were back in the ascendancy and the ASX seemed to have its tech problems under wraps.
The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 83.92 points, or 0.7%, to 12,988.03, led higher by a 5.3% gain for ANZ to $31.60, with Australia’s banks enjoying a stronger day across the Tasman. Westpac rose 3% to $35.80 and Heartland Group Holdings increased 1% to 98 cents.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.3% in afternoon trading, with the ASX’s CHESS problems seemingly under control as traders worked through a backlog of settlements. New Zealand’s stock market operator, NZX, was unchanged at $1.50.
Softer US inflation figures on Friday bolstered Wall Street at the end of last week, and local companies paying reliable dividends were among those leading the NZX50 higher as the two-year swap rate fell 6 basis points to 3.42% and 10-year swaps fell 10 points to 3.96%.
Stride property rose 4% to $1.31, Contact Energy advanced 3.8% to $9.11, Genesis Energy increased 3.1% to $2.34, and Argosy Property was up 2.5% at $1.015.
Exporters were also broadly stronger as the kiwi traded at 56.52 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 56.63 cents at 7am and up from 56.24 cents on Friday. Apple exporter Scales climbed 4.5% to $3.99, while outside the top 50 index Rakon gained 3.4% to 61 cents, T&G Global gained 3.3% to $1.55 and Eroad advanced 3.1% to $1.03.
Foxtel sells
Sky Network Television climbed neared a two-month high as it rose 3% to $2.75. Across the Tasman, News Corp and Telstra agreed to sell Foxtel to British platform DAZN, valuing the streaming and cable TV business at A$3.4 billion.
Fletcher Building was unchanged at $2.80 after saying James Miller will join will join the board once he adjusts his existing director commitments.
Ryman Healthcare was the most heavily traded stock on a volume of 4.5 million, falling 2.3% to $4.30. The bulk of that was two trades – one where 2.2 million shares changed hands at $4.32 and another where 1.9 million were traded at $4.32.
Port of Tauranga post the biggest decline on the benchmark index, falling 2.9% to $6.45. Meanwhile, Napier Port rose 0.8% to $2.56, Southport New Zealand gained 1.9% to $5.36, and Northport shareholder Marsden Maritime Holdings was unchanged at $3.35.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Curious News.