NZX leads top 50 index higher; Alibaba surges in Hong Kong

Stock market operator NZX led the S&P/NZX 50 index higher to start the new season in a mixed day across Asia, with a soft Friday session on Wall Street and the US Labor Day holiday leaving investors a little rudderless in the new week.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.9% in late trading, spurred on by optimism about Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s exposure to artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, prime minister Christopher Luxon announced changes to let active investor plus-visa holders buy high-end residential properties worth at least $5 million, lifting something that’s been touted as a roadblock to attracting wealthy foreigners with deep pockets to New Zealand.

And Open Country Dairy has continued its acquisition spree, picking up central North Island-based Miraka, and adding a sixth site and extra capacity of 300 million litres of milk to the country’s second biggest dairy processor.

Spring has sprung

The NZX50 climbed 139.72 points, or 1.1%, to 13,070.45, with 32 stocks gaining, 13 declining, and five unchanged. Turnover was $146.3 million across the main board.

Stock market operator NZX led the market higher, climbing 5% to $1.46 as it bounced back from August’s roughing up when it shed 9.2% in the month, got a rating downgrade by Forsyth Barr and had Wilson Asset Management leave the share register. Accident Compensation Corp’s investment arm lifted its substantial stake in the bourse operator to 7.9%.

Among other big gainers on the day, Mainfreight advanced 4.2% to $61.85, Tourism Holdings rose 4% to $2.35 and Ryman Healthcare gained 2.9% to $2.46.

New Zealand’s stock market was one of the better performers across Asia, although Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 1.9%, with tech giant Alibaba jumping 19% as investors looked through the miss in quarterly top-line revenue, focusing instead on the AI-powered growth in its cloud computing division.

Investors have one eye on US jobs data at the end of the week for a steer on whether the Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark rate later this month. Stocks on Wall Street tapered off on Friday, while trading in the US is closed on Monday for the Labor Day public holiday.

“Our market’s doing well in the context of the rest of Asia,” said Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. “The Hang Seng's performance was boosted by Alibaba, which is up on the impact of AI on its business and the potential for that to drive margin and earnings growth.”

Gentrack posted the biggest decline on the NZX50, falling 3% to $10.10.

Dairy jostling

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units fell 1.6% to $7.25 after smaller rival Open Country agreed to buy milk processor Miraka for an undisclosed sum, its second acquisition in recent weeks after the country’s second-biggest dairy company agreed to buy a2 Milk Co’s Mataura Valley Milk.

The a2 Milk Co slipped 0.2% to $10.68, while Synlait Milk was unchanged at 77 cents.

The kiwi dollar traded at 59.01 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 58.95 cents at 7am and 58.92 cents last week. Statistics New Zealand figures today showed new residential building consents dipped 0.1% in the 12 months ended July 31 from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the government announced active investor plus-visa holders will be allowed to buy or build one luxury home worth at least $5 million to encourage greater uptake.

Building materials firm Fletcher Building rose 1% to $3.18, while property developer Winton Land advanced 2.4% to $2.11, on typically thin volumes.

Air New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock on a volume of 4.2 million shares, as it gained 1.7%. The government today announced plans to loan up to $30 million to small passenger airlines to support the viability of regional air routes.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Curious News.