NZX securities market trading climbs 47% in April

Thursday 5th May 2016

NZX cash trading jumped 47 percent by volume in April from the same month last year with gains in both equity and debt security transactions.

Total trades rose to 142,769 last month while average daily trades rose 39 percent to 7,138, according to the market operator's shareholder metrics. The total value of securities traded in April rose 55 percent to $4.1 billion, or an average of $204 million a day.

The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index reached a record high 6917.57 on April 21, a 33 percent gain over 12 months, as continued low interest rates worldwide drove investors to a market offering relatively attractive dividend yields. Meanwhile, the debt market has grown as corporates take advantage of low rates to issue bonds, adding to the $5.56 billion of debt securities the Local Government Funding Agency listed last November.

Total equity trades rose 47 percent to 139,551 last month and the value rose about 55 percent to $3.9 billion. Debt trades rose about 34 percent to 3,128 while the value jumped 61 percent to $174 million. There were no new capital listings last month, although there were $312 million of secondary capital raisings.

The value of all equity securities on the NZX rose 14 percent to $116.6 billion, equivalent to 47.4 percent of gross domestic product in April from a year earlier, while the value of debt climbed 66 percent to $20.9 billion, or 8.5 percent of GDP.

Among the other metrics, the NZX's SuperLife unit lifted funds under management by about 16 percent to $1.5 billion, while the value of Smartshares rose 176 percent to about $1.6 billion, driven by growth in SuperLife funds under management.

Grain trading rose 5 percent to 442,530 tonnes.

NZX's own shares last traded at $1 and have declined 12 percent in the past 12 months.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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