Christmas came early for Gentrack investors after its shares increased by almost 20% today, following an 18% jump yesterday.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 156.7 points, or 1.35%, to 11,552.04. Turnover on the main board was $567.2 million largely due to changes accommodating the last trading date in advance of the November Quarterly Index Review for the MSCI Equity Indices.
A large part of the turnover was on Ebos with more than $200m worth of its shares changing hands. It closed at $40.95 up 1.9%.
Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said that Gentrack’s share price had a “great day” following Jarden lifting its 12-month target price on the back of the company’s earnings upgrades by 45% to $2.25 – up from $1.55.
“Gentrack’s shares jumped out of the water,” he said.
The software developer revealed yesterday it had turned around a net loss of $3.3m in the 12 months ended Sept 30 with revenue rising 19.3% to $126.3m in a year the company described as “successful”.
By the end of the day, the stock was up 19% to $2.38. Since Monday, Gentrack’s shares have risen from $1.69 to $2.38 – gaining 69 cents in price.
Precinct Properties jumped 5.8% to $1.28 after announcing the launch of a $250m Wellington office project, with the commercial office space having been leased to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
ANZ Bank edged up 0.4% to $26.85 as it forecast house prices to bottom out with a 22% decline in price from last November's peak, which is largely due to the ‘shock value’ of accelerated interest rate hikes on the market.
Westpac was also up 0.5% to $25.65 while Heartland Bank rose 0.6% to $1.84.
Four NZ dairy companies including listed Synlait Milk told the regulator in a joint submission on Oct 14 that was released yesterday that they don’t consider Fonterra’s 2022/23 milk price manual to be complying with the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act rules.
Synlait Milk jumped up 3.4% to $3.05 and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund Units rose 2.3% to $3.10. A2 Milk edged up 1.4% to $6.65.
Synlait Milk and A2 both traded over $19.7m in shares over the day.
Ryman Healthcare’s Greg Campbell is standing down for health reasons and will be replaced by Claire Higgins, who had been on the board since 2014, pending a formal process to nominate a successor.
The aged-care provider was down 0.8% to $6.65 by early evening.
Today, the NZ dollar was trading at 62.08 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 61.68 US cents yesterday.
“Unfortunately for farmers, the NZD of late has been stronger than expected,” ASB economist Nathaniel Keall wrote in a currency report today. “We are sceptical that the NZD will be able to sustain its current climb.”
(This story has been corrected for turnover in the second par and the explanation for the high turnover)
