MARKET CLOSE NZ shares rise as Genesis debut sparks energy rally; Meridian, MRP, Contact gain

Thursday 17th April 2014

New Zealand stock rose after shares in the partially privatised Genesis Energy soared as much as 18 percent in its debut listing on the NZX, buoying other listed energy companies in the process. Meridian Energy, MightyRiverPower, Contact Energy and TrustPower paced gains.

The NZX 50 Index rose 12.799 points, or about 0.3 percent, to 5103.348. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 17 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $149.6 million, which excludes Genesis, which is not part of the index as yet.

Genesis climbed 17 percent to $1.81 from its listing price of $1.55, giving holders of the 49 percent that was sold an immediate gain of about $135 million. Over $143 million worth of shares traded hands in the IPO process, which attracted 68,000 retail investors, giving Genesis the third largest share register on the NZX in a largely scaled offer.

The float raised $733 million, bringing proceeds from the government's partial privatisation programme to $4.7 billion.

Fellow state-controlled generator-retailer Meridian rose 1.7 percent to $1.175 while MightyRiverPower advanced 1.1 percent to $2.21. Contact, which was fully privatised in 1999, gained 1.5 percent to $5.58 while Infratil-controlled TrustPower climbed 1.2 percent to $6.53. Auckland lines company Vector increased 1.6 percent to $2.49.

"The final mixed ownership IPO has ended with a real bang for investors," said James Smalley, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. " nA number of institutions saw the writing was on the wall with regards to demand for Genesis stock versus the amount of stock that was on offer and realised if you were underweight in that sector and expecting to correct your weightings with the Genesis IPO that wasn't going to happen so we did see a bit of buying."

Stock market operator NZX fell 0.8 percent to $1.24 as the government's public listing of assets came to an end.

Tech stocks, hammered in recent days, showed some recovery. Diligent Board Member Services, the governance app maker, led the benchmark index higher, up 6.7 percent to $4.75. Pacific Edge, the biotech company, rose 1.7 percent to $1.17 and Xero, the cloud-based accounting software firm, gained 3.4 percent to $29.00.

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The tech stocks gained as the "market perceived that it was a little overdone on the downside regarding the well-publicised switch out of growth stocks into more defensive ones," Smalley said. "As well as that, the sell-off overseas in those sectors has abated."

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Among tech stocks outside the benchmark index, GeoOp, the small business task management app maker, jumped 22 percent to $1.61, Wynyard Group, the software security firm, rose 1.7 percent to $2.44, and SLI Systems, the search engine developer was unchanged at $1.97.

Air New Zealand fell 0.2 percent to $2.07.The national carrier says claims against it as part of a class action lawsuit in Australia over alleged price fixing on freight have been withdrawn and the airline won't be contributing to an A$38 million settlement by other airlines.

Fletcher Building, New Zealand's largest listed company, fell 0.9 percent to $9.62. Telecom dropped 0.8 percent to $2.63.

Kathmandu Holdings, the outdoor goods retailer, rose 1.1 percent to $3.79. Warehouse Group, New Zealand's largest listed retailer, advanced 0.6 percent to $3.26. Brisbane-based jeweller Michael Hill International was unchanged at $1.34 as was online auction site Trade Me Group at $3.94.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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