MARKET WRAP: Sky TV lower as Spark benefits from rugby rights

The New Zealand sharemarket edged up slightly today after the International Monetary Fund upgraded its growth forecast for the New Zealand economy by 3%.

The NZX50 index rose 25 points to 8369.49, on turnover of $91 million.

Fat Prophets head of research Greg Smith says the IMF upgrade “added to the enthusiasm” of investors.

“They also upgraded their global forecast, which got Northern hemisphere going overnight. New Zealand markets edged up slightly, but failed to match Northern hemisphere gains.”

Spark confirmed it had won the rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup on Monday, and its share price was up 0.58% to $3.45 today.

“Obviously, Spark and TVNZ’s win is Sky TV's loss,” Mr Smith says.

Sky TV continued its compounding fall from grace. Its shares dropped 2.10% to $2.33, despite Netflix indicating it will focus on partnering with pay-tv providers.

Auckland International Airport gained 1.21% to $6.29.

AMP shares fell 3.09% to $4.70 after the wealth management company landed in hot water across the Tasman, admitting to the Financial Services Royal Commission it had misled Australian Securities and Investments Commission about its business practices.

The company was charging clients for advice they never received and admitted staff had repeatedly lied to the corporate watchdog.

Mr Smith says Kathmandu Holdings' North American acquisition of a US footwear company “looks like a good one”.

The company closed its share purchase plan oversubscribed today.

Kathmandu says it accepted up to $2m in oversubscriptions, bringing the total subscriptions under the share purchase plan to $10m.

The outdoor clothing company received applications from 1516 eligible shareholders, with subscriptions totalling $14.5m, exceeding the offer size by 81%.

Its share price dipped 0.78% to $2.54.

Mr Smith says it will be interesting to see what happens with Fletcher Building, having been sceptical about Wesfarmers was buying it in the first place, considering it has a lot on its plate, after the Australian company botched its acquisition of Homebase in the UK.

Both NZX and the Financial Markets Authority say they have received complaints about the false story that Wesfarmers was buying Fletcher Building shares and they are investigating.