MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares up on no news, Metro Glass and Sky TV bounce

Friday 5th January 2018

New Zealand shares gained with global equity markets in the absence of local corporate news, with Metro Performance Glass and Sky Network Television rising while Freightways dropped.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 12.05 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8,455.55. Within the index, 23 stocks gained, 15 fell and 12 were unchanged. Turnover was $122 million.

"There's no new fundamental news at all," said Matt Goodson, managing director at Salt Funds Management. "It's really just flow driven on light volumes, not much meaning can be read into price movements at the moment."

"There have been some brokers' stock picks for the year published - every year you see a little rush into those names, at a time of year where the market is almost illiquid," Goodson said. "Give it a few weeks and that will fall out."

MetroGlass led the index higher, rising 2 percent to $1.03, while Sky TV gained 1.8 percent to $2.85.

Fletcher Building advanced 1.6 percent to $7.81. All three stocks suffered last year, with Metro Glass down 48 percent in 2017 making it the worst performer, Sky TV second-last with a 38 percent fall, and Fletcher Building declining 28 percent in the year.

Freightways was the worst performer on the day, dropping 1.4 percent to $7.61. Trade Me Group fell 1 percent to $4.79 and Spark New Zealand dipped 1 percent to $3.615.

Outside the benchmark index, Trilogy International fell 0.4 percent to $2.81. It has attracted the interest of Australia's largest ethical investment fund, Australian Ethical Investment Ltd, which has lifted its stake in the scented candle and natural beauty products maker above 10 percent. Trilogy's businesses include its flagship rosehip oil skincare range Trilogy, scented candle maker Ecoya, skincare brand Lanocorp, and distribution business CS & Co and Australian Ethical Investment lists the investment under its "sustainable products" category.

TIL Logistics Group gained 0.5 percent to $2.01. The New Plymouth-based freight and logistics company has retained some of the former shareholders of Bethunes Investments after completing a reverse listing transaction.

Shareholders of Bethunes, which changed its name to TIL Logistics last month, had until Jan. 3 to exercise their right to sell their shares to the dominant owner and a total of 35 shareholders with 928 shares in aggregate did so.

The company was granted a waiver from NZX listing rules that require a company to have at least 25 percent of shares held by 500 members of the public to allow the transaction to proceed and the spokeswoman said it is now working through options to increase the spread of shareholders.

(BusinessDesk)

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