MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares rise after selloff; Summerset gains on guidance

Tuesday 7th July 2015

New Zealand shares rose, clawing back some of Monday's selloff on relief that concern about Greece's debt crisis didn't overly rattle Wall Street. Summerset Group led gainers after giving guidance that beat estimates. Westpac Banking Corp and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group advanced.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed 26.56 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5803.18. Within the index, 30 stocks rose, 17 fell and three were unchanged. Turnover was $165 million.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.4 percent on Monday, a more modest fall than the 1.2 percent drop in Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has indicated a deal with creditors is still possible after the resignation of finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who had got offside with some Euro ministers. Investors are also watching developments in China after Beijing announced emergency measures to stem its stock market slide.

"At the moment the New Zealand market does seem to be following offshore leads," said Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "Today's bounce back is that the US market didn't really show too much concern about the Greek situation. Yesterday people were liquidating their positions but buyers are back in the market today."

Summerset climbed 4.8 percent to $3.71 after the nation's third-largest retirement village operator said annual earnings may rise as much as 39 percent as it benefits from record sales of units. It achieved a record 110 resales in the six months ended June 30, as well as 160 new sales.

Williamson said Summerset's guidance was about 10 percent above expectations and the company was "performing very well."

Metlifecare rose 1.3 percent to $4.66 and Ryman Healthcare, the biggest of the listed retirement village operators, gained 1 percent to $7.95.

Westpac climbed 3.7 percent to $37.63 and ANZ Bank rose 3.1 percent to $36.90, tracking Australian stocks higher after the S&P/ASX 200 Index rallied by 1.8 percent.

Pacific Edge, the bladder cancer test developer, gained 3.3 percent to 63 cents.

Vital Healthcare gained 2.5 percent to $1.66, leading gains among property investors on expectations interest rates will remain low, making reliable dividend paying stocks more appealing.

DNZ Property Fund rose 1.7 percent to $2.08 and Property for Industry climbed 1.6 percent to $1.56.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which gets about half its sales in US dollars, climbed 1.3 percent to $7.14 as the kiwi dollar held near a five-year low against the greenback.

Xero, the cloud-based accounting software company, fell 3.3 percent to $17.65, the biggest decline on the NZX 50 Index. NZX, the stock market operator, fell 2.8 percent to $1.03 and Mainfreight declined 1.5 percent to $15.46.

Kathmandu, the subject of a takeover offer from rival retailer Briscoe Group, fell 1.2 percent to $1.63. Briscoe dropped 1.8 percent to $2.75.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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