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Activity was light during holiday impacted trading.
The sharemarket advanced in light holiday trading with very little volume or news.
The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index edged up 0.2%, or 22.126 points, to 12,002.46 on Wednesday. On the broader market 73 stocks rose and 56 fell with $83 million shares traded.
“It’s been a weak trading day,” said Craigs Investment Partners investment adviser Peter McIntyre. “There was light school holiday trade, with not a lot of news filtering through the market.”
McIntyre said the market had been trending upwards since last week.
“Some of the more heavyweight stocks in our market that have the big weighting in the indices have done well today and that’s driven our overall performance,” he said.
Meridian Energy gained 0.9% to $5.55, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare advanced 0.4% to $24.70, Spark rose 0.9% to $5.10, Mercury edged up 0.9% to $6.60, and Mainfreight increased 1.4% to $72.90.
Blis Technologies closed unchanged at 2.9 cents after the biotech company said chief executive Brian Watson had handed in his resignation after more than seven years with the company.
Chairperson Geoff Plunket said Watson would continue in the role for up to six months providing leadership and support for the transition to a new chief executive, with the recruitment process for a replacement to start immediately.
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Mānuka honey company Comvita closed unchanged at $3.20. The company’s shares have gained 10% this week after it announced two deals to expand its presence in Asia.
Comvita said it has bought HoneyWorld, Singapore’s largest mānuka honey retailer, and had signed a significant long-term partnership with Ole Supermarkets, one of China’s largest premium retail chains.
Craigs Investment Partners analyst Joshua Dale increased his 12-month target price on the stock by 10% to $4.40 after lifting his forecasts for Comvita’s earnings for the next two years.
Dale, who has an “overweight” recommendation on the stock, said Comvita was trading at a low price to earnings ratio for the growth on offer.
Asian stock markets sank after a survey showed Chinese industrial activity weakening.
Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney retreated. Oil prices were mixed.
US markets were closed on Tuesday for a holiday.
An index of service industry activity by a leading Chinese business magazine, Caixin, weakened sharply in June, adding to signs China’s recovery following the end of anti-virus controls on business and travel is cooling. Growth in factory activity also slowed.
Caixin’s purchasing managers’ index for services fell to 53.9 from May’s 57.1 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity increasing. It was the weakest reading this year.
China is the biggest trading partner for all of its Asian neighbours. Demand for imports got a boost when retailing and factory activity revived, but that rebound cooled faster than expected.
In energy markets, benchmark US crude rose US$1.03 to US$70.82 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, lost US52c to US$75.73 per barrel in London.
– With AP
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