MARKET WRAP: NZ shares up 0.7%, Meridian, Mercury and Chorus gain

New Zealand shares gained today, encouraged by strong results for Meridian Energy, Mercury NZ and Chorus.

The NZX50 index surged 61 points to 8443, on turnover of $159 million.

Harbour Asset Management analyst Shane Solly says the New Zealand exchange is having “firm end to the month”.

“The market is set to close up over half a percent on reasonable volume, so it looks like it will be up more than 1.5% for the month of April.”

Meridian Energy shares were up 1.9% to $2.95, Mercury NZ shares rose 2.74% to $3.18 and Chorus shares gained 2.41% to $4.04.

“That reflects the cooling we saw in the ANZ Business Outlook Confidence Survey which shows we might have seen the peak in activity in New Zealand for the near term,” Mr Solly says.

Westpac shares turned around today, rising 1.62% to $30.75 after dipping amid last week’s bad news from Australia's royal commission.

However, there was to be no sigh of relief from AMP, its share price continued to fall, down 0.47% to $4.28.

AMP’s chairwoman Catherine Brenner resigned today in the wake of admitting that the financial services giant is guilty of misconduct and of misleading regulators in Australia.

She will be replaced immediately by AMP director Mike Wilkins, who last week was appointed acting chief executive after Craig Meller stepped down for the same reasons as Ms Brenner.

Moa Group and Evolve Education shares both fell 3.92% to 49c.

Mr Solly says some data points came out of the US last week.

Of 270 US earnings reports, more than 200 companies - about 80% -  beat estimates.

“But there is caution out there. People want to see if that has actually beat expectations,” Mr Solly says.

While the New Zealand market set to have a strong end to the month, it pales in comparison to the Australian market, which is up almost 4.5% led by the material sector and a strong run in the performance of commodity prices.

Mr Solly says the market will continue its volatility in the near future.

Looking ahead, there are a number of key data points throughout the week, starting with US personal income spending overnight.

ANZ Bank kicks off the reporting season on Tuesday with its annual results against the backdrop of negative headlines coming out of Australia’s royal commission.

On Tuesday the Reserve Bank of Australia will comment on cash targets.

Later in the week, there will be series of manufacturing statistics out of US and Europe.

“The market will be looking for confirmation that central banks aren’t going to tighten too quickly,” Mr Solly says.