NZX steady as Eroad rallies on road-user charge changes

On the main board, the S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.05% or 6.94 points, rising to 12,887.10, after 45.7 million shares worth $120m changed hands.

The S&P/NZX 20 index closed at 7,561.42 points, up just 0.06%, while the S&P/NZX 10 index ended the day at 12,642.76, rising 0.09%.

There were 76 gainers on the main board and 60 decliners.

Hamilton Hindin Greene investment adviser Jeremy Sullivan said it was a mildly positive day on the market.

“Of course, we have an earnings season starting next week, so you tend to see volumes a little lighter as people await the company announcements and guidance, especially,” Sullivan said. “US markets were positive, even though India has been hit with a higher tariff level than initially quoted. Our interest rates are buoying the market more than geopolitical instability and tariffs.”

Leading a rally

On the NZX, Eroad rallied by 26.42% after the Government unveiled a raft of changes to the country’s road user charges system in preparation for 3.5m light vehicles moving to the charges.

As has previously been signalled, the current fuel excise duty is expected to be abolished in the coming years, with all vehicles moving to road user charges (RUCs).

Eroad saw its share price lift 42c to $2.01 after 3.1m shares traded hands on turnover of $5.9m.

“Obviously, they’re seen as a potential front-runner for being able to offer a solution in that area. Material uplift in volume and share price and their market cap would put them up as a NZX50 constituent as well, so the potential to eventually be included in NZX indices.”

Elsewhere, Radius Healthcare shares rose 3.90% to $0.40 on a high volume of 10.4m shares after it announced an upgrade to its projected underlying earnings before interest and tax.

Sullivan said Radius doesn’t seem to be able to put a foot wrong at the moment, noting its share price rose 22% in July, 22% in June, and 25% in April.

Chorus also had another positive day, with its share price lifting 1.21% or 11c to $9.20.

Contact Energy, meanwhile, fell 0.76% to $9.10 after turnover of $11.1m was traded.

US markets

Wall Street stocks rose on Wednesday (US time), with Apple and most other large tech companies rallying as markets largely shrugged off United States President Donald Trump’s latest tariff hikes.

Apple's stock surged by more than 5% after White House officials announced that the tech giant plans to invest an additional US$100 billion (NZ$167.9b) in capital spending in the US.

Amazon and Google parent Alphabet were among the other large tech names that also rose.

“By standing up and publicly announcing a domestic investment with President Trump, it reduces the likelihood of Trump imposing new tariff burdens on Apple,” FHN Financial’s Chris Low said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.2% at 44,193.12.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7% to 6,345.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.2% to 21,169.42, less than 10 points from an all-time record.

Trump ordered an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods. The levy, which is expected to come into force in three weeks, is due to New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil.

– Additional reporting by AFP.