15 Aug 2014

NZ dollar due for an uptick - analyst

7:27 pm on 15 August 2014

New Zealand shares rose today with the benchmark Top 50 Index gaining 16 points to 5078 at the close of trade.

JM Were NZ Equity Manager Rickey Ward said the standout of the day was the launch of ERoad, opening at a 32-cent premium to its issue price of $3 per share.

"The main one is the listing of ERoad. It had a pretty successful debut in an environment where a number of them haven't. The other ones have been the continued slide in Xero and the other one is GPG," he said.

"The falls have been masked a little bit because the rest of the market's had a reasonably positive tone to it. People haven't focused on the stocks that have gone down, they've tended to focus on the ones that have gone up."

ERoad shares debuted at $3.32 and continued to rise, ending the day on its high of $3.40.

The price of shares in Xero fell $1.33 to $20.17.

Gusiness Peat Group also ended the day down 3 cents to 59 cents.

Mixed fortunes for NZ dollar

The New Zealand dollar's performance was mixed today, with some fresh economic data expected to move the currency higher later tonight and into next week.

Westpac currency strategist Imre Speizer said the New Zealand currency was due for an uptick and he was expecting it to show some strength in the coming week.

At 5.20pm on Friday, the dollar was trading at 84.83 US cents, at 90.94 Australian cents, 50.82 British pence, 0.6345 euro, 86.98 yen and 5.21 renminbi.