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New Zealand stocks were mixed in trading today. Early signs were that the market would break a two day mild upward run, but the trend reversed late in the day to be slightly positive at day’s end, with several stocks going ex dividend.
The NZX50 Index, which is calculated on a gross basis and does not account for the ex dividend effect, was up 7.139 points, or 0.154 percent, to 4,634.896. Within the index, 21 stocks rose, 19 fell, and 10 were unchanged. Turnover was $155.8 million.
“It’s very much about companies going ex-dividend,” said Shane Solly at Mint Asset Management, with
Freightways, NZOG, Trade Me, Steel & Tube, and Air New Zealand all shedding dividend rights today.
“Port of Tauranga’s still getting knocked around after losing the handling contract,” he said, as the port company shares added a further 2.9 percent fall to yesterday’s drop of that size, to close at $14. The port purchased a log marshalling firm in February for $34 million, but it lost a key contract worth some 60 percent of its annual revenue this week.
As was the case on Tuesday, governance app-makers Diligent Board Member Services led the market up, rising 3.4 percent to $5.83 a share, while cloud accounting software pioneer Xero was among the top five movers after chief executive Rod Drury’s bullish comments after the company’s first customer conference in San Francisco. Xero shares rose 1.94 percent to $18.40.
Solly said there was “a pretty robust background for the retail sector, and generally looks pretty positive” with Warehouse earnings due on Friday and Pumpkin Patch next week.
After trading closed, the NZX announced changes to the composition of its Top 20 Index from Sept 23, with MightyRiverPower, Xero and Infratil replacing Freightways, ANZ Bank, and GPG.
(BusinessDesk)