Retirement village operator Summerset Group gave the New Zealand sharemarket a lift with record unit sales as trading stayed positive following strong rises offshore.
Thanks to a surge in the last half an hour, the S&P/NZX 50 Index collected 73.04 points or 0.58 per cent to close at the day’s high of 12,763.4.
There were 96 gainers and 48 decliners across the whole market, with 91.39 million shares worth $174.31m changing hands.
Jeremy Sullivan, investment advisor with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the market was positive on leads from offshore.
“United States markets closed the weekend at new highs and the Australian market is up strongly, led by the miners and banks. China has reduced banks’ capital to lending ratio by half a per cent, suggesting they are not seeing inflation as high as others.
“The reduction is injecting $US221 billion ($NZ302b) into the China economy – the fourth time they have made this move since Covid-19 struck – and the country’s V-shaped recovery is not looking as strong as before,” Sullivan said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged nearly 450 points or 1.3 per cent to 34,870.16; the S&P 500 Index was up 1.13 per cent to 4369.55; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.98 per cent to 14,701.92.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index increased 0.84 per cent to 7334.7 points at 6pm NZ time. ANZ Banking Group rose 34c to $NZ29.94, and Westpac Banking Corporation was up 31c to $27.30.
Summerset Group Holdings climbed 25c or 1.87 per cent $13.60 after telling the market it had a record second quarter to the end of June with 154 new sales and 116 re-sales of units.
Summerset also had the best half-year in its history with 545 sales, mainly in Christchurch (Casebrook village), Auckland (Ellerslie), Hamilton (Rototuna) and Napier (Te Awa). Summerset’s waiting list of prospective residents has increased by a further 8 per cent.
Sullivan said Summerset has been able to move its more specialised medical units and it’s a good result for the company.
Fellow retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare was up 21c to $13.30; and Radius Residential Care recovered 7c or 8.75 per cent to 87c.
Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare had a strong day, rising 30c to $30.30; Meridian Energy was up 18c or 3.45 per cent to $5.40; Mercury gained 10c to $6.65; Pushpay Holdings increased 4c or 2.41 per cent to $1.70; and Serko picked up 19c or 2.65 per cent to $7.36.
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Chorus gained 5c to $6.35 after announcing total fixed line connections by Chorus fell 16,000 to 1.34m for the fourth quarter, while fibre broadband connections increased 29,000, similar to the uptake in the third quarter. The strongest fibre growth was in Queenstown and Wellington-Kapiti.
The a2 Milk Company announced a reorganisation and key appointments, and its share price was up 2c to $7.62 after trading as high as $7.88 during the day. It fell after the Australian market opened and came under selling pressure from there.
A2 Milk is breaking its Asia Pacific division into three units – China domestic business, international export and Australia and New Zealand domestic. Xiao Li is the chief executive Greater China; Yohan Senaratne, formerly sales and marketing director at Bellamy’s Organic, will become executive general manager international; and a2’s sales director Kevin Bush has a new role of executive general manager Australia and New Zealand.
Hallenstein Glasson Holdings has closed 13 Glassons stores in Sydney because of the stronger Covid-19 restrictions, and its share price fell 9c to $7.35. The stores are expected to re-open on Friday when the lockdown is lifted, and Hallenstein said the sales impact is protected by online buying.
Z Energy gained 4c to $2.83; Restaurant Brands increased 30c or 2.02 per cent to $15.16; Vista Group was up 5c or 2.22 per cent to $2.30; and Tourism Holdings was down 10c or 4.08 per cent to $2.35. Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund declined 7c or 1.83 per cent to $3.75.
Hi-tech investor Enprise Group rose 12c or 3.3 per cent to $3.76; and NZ Automotive Investments climbed 5c or 4.55 per cent to $1.15.
The Salt Investment Funds-managed Carbon Fund, which buys carbon credits and provides investors with exposure to the price of carbon, rose 6c or 3.77 per cent to $1.65.
DGL Group slipped 3c or 1.9 per cent to $1.55 after buying the Melbourne property used as the head office of Chem Pack Pty which includes warehouse facilities for the formulation and storage of chemicals.
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