New Zealand’s share market snapped a three-day decline as clothing chain Hallenstein Glasson led the market higher after brokers upgraded the stock in the wake of its upbeat trading update.
Hallenstein Glasson rose 2% to $7.64 after Forsyth Barr raised its target price on the clothing chain, following the retailer’s strong trading update on Tuesday. Other retailers were mixed, with Warehouse Group advancing 2% to $1.03 and Turners Automotive Group rising 0.6% to %$5.33, while KMD Brands was unchanged at 40 cents, Michael Hill International declined 1.6% to 63 cents and Briscoe Group fell 3% to $1.29.
The S&P/NZX 50 index increased 30.98 points, or 0.3%, to 12,778.49 in a mixed session across Asia as tech stocks weighed on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and chipmakers sapped Japan’s Nikkei 225 ahead of US inflation data that analysts are watching closely for any signs that the Federal Reserve will slow its expected pace of interest rate cuts.
Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said markets have priced in an 85% chance of a rate cut at next week’s Fed review, and that the range of forecasts for the inflation reading were tight.
“That leaves them vulnerable to a surprise,” he said.
The kiwi dollar was little changed at 58.02 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 57.95 cents at 8am, and down from 58.32 cents yesterday when the Reserve Bank of Australia softened its tone on inflation-targeting, weighing on the antipodean currencies.
Cheaper exports
Exporters were broadly stronger with the weaker dollar increasing the value of their foreign sales, with index heavyweight Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 0.7% at $37.40, Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units advancing 2% to $5.24 and Vista Group International climbing 2% to $3.10.
Scott Technology gained 3.8% to $2.20 on a relatively light volume after securing its biggest appliance automation contract in China, worth 85 million Chinese yuan.
Refrigeration technology firm AoFrio jumped almost 21%, or 1.9 cents, to 11 cents after saying it was on track to meet the upper end of its calendar 2024 earnings guidance and that it expected further growth in 2025.
Stock market operator NZX posted the biggest decline on the day, falling 2.7% to $1.44.
The government this week pushed out the prospect of floating Kiwibank on the exchange, instead investigating a private placement with institutional investors, and today said Kiwirail’s Interislander unit would be carved out into a schedule 4 company – allowing for outside investment – but didn’t include any decisions on private sector involvement in the ferry company.
Global logistics firm Mainfreight – an advocate for rail-enabled interisland ferries – rose 1.8% to $72.84 and courier firm Freightways gained 1.4% to $10.41.
Spark New Zealand was the most heavily traded company on the exchange, falling 0.5% to $2.80 on a volume of almost 3.8 million shares.
The country’s biggest telecommunications company has been under pressure after missing its earnings guidance this year and dropping out of the MSCI world index and ASX200.
Still, the nine-year low in the share price attracted Milford Asset Management, which last month emerged as a substantial shareholder, and analysts have upgraded their ratings on the stock due to the subdued price.
Trading of Channel Infrastructure was halted today at $1.82 to allow let Forsyth Barr manage the bookbuild for the retail component of the import terminal’s recent capital raising, which brought in gross proceeds of $21.4 million.
