MARKET CLOSE:NZ shares snap 3 days of declines   15 Oct 2014

MARKET CLOSE:NZ shares snap 3 days of declines as investor hunt yield

By Suze Metherell

Oct. 15 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand shares snapped three days of falls as investors hunted yield in an uncertain global economy. Meridian Energy, MightyRiverPower and Kiwi Income Property Trust advanced.

The NZX 50 Index rose 16.981 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5162.872. Within the index, 25 stocks rose, 21 fell and four were unchanged. Turnover was $89.8 million.

Overnight Wall Street snapped its worst three day decline since 2011, fuelled by global uncertainty which saw the CBOE VIX Index, known as Wall Street's fear gauge, spike to its highest level since 2012. Poor economic data out of Germany has stoked concern Europe may slip back into recession, while last the week, the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecast for 2015 to 3.8 percent from 4 percent and warned geopolitical tensions posed a risk to "frothy" equity markets. Meanwhile, traders are waiting to see how markets will react once the US Federal Reserve ends its bond buying programme at the end of this month.

"The worm has slowly turned today to see prices improve. We've had a rebound today, offshore markets overnight were a little bit firmer and that's got the bargain hunters coming back into the local market," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "The index in the states which follows volatility is pretty high at the moment, and I don't see it stopping anytime soon. There's just such mixed signals, one minute the US is going up on good economic data, the next minute it's going down on negative news. "

MightyRiverPower advanced 1.9 percent to $2.63. Meridian Energy climbed 1 percent to $1.545. Trustpower, which is majority owned by Infratil, rose 0.6 percent to $7.17, while Infratil increased 0.7 percent to $2.84. Contact Energy gained 0.2 percent to $5.88.

"The electricity generators are in demand again," Williamson said. "They're viewed as defensive, which given the high volatility we're experiencing on the equity market at the moment investors are viewing that sector as a relatively safe haven offering good dividend income."

Property investors, which are also favoured for their reliable income, rose. Kiwi Property Income Trust gained 1.7 percent to $1.185. Precinct Properties New Zealand advanced 0.9 percent to $1.09. Property For Industry climbed 0.7 percent to $1.40. Goodman Property Trust rose 0.5 percent to $1.085. DNZ Property Fund increased 0.3 percent to $1.72.

Fletcher Building, New Zealand's largest listed company, climbed 1.4 percent to $8.69. Spark New Zealand, formerly Telecom Corp, rose 1.2 percent to $2.89.

Steel & Tube Holdings led the benchmark index higher, climbing 2.5 percent to $2.84.

Xero, the cloud-based accounting software firm, snapped six days of declines to advance1.4 percent to $17.75.

Genesis Energy fell 0.8 percent to $1.895. The state-controlled energy generator and retailer announced a $20 million annual maintenance contract with Transfield Worley Power Services, as it looks to cut costs by 10 percent.

Argosy Property, New Zealand's fourth-largest listed property investor by market capitalisation, fell 1 percent to $1.025 after it said the value of its portfolio rose by 2.1 percent to $1.22 billion in the six months ended Sept. 30, excluding properties up for sale, after a property review by Colliers International.

(BusinessDesk)

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