Shares in Abano Healthcare Group and Methven were, respectively, punished and rewarded by investors when it was announced on Thursday the pair would swap places in the New Zealand stock exchange's NZX top 50 companies index.
Abano shares immediately took a 6% hit in value and at the end of the day were trading down 1.3%, or 6c, at $4.54, while Methven shares initially traded up 9% and ended the day up 6%, or 10c, at $1.75.
Abano is to be removed from the NZX 50 after a quarterly review, with its 15 million shares on issue at $4.60 giving it a market capitalisation of $72 million, while Methven's 66.6 million shares at $1.65 gave it a market capitalisation of $110 million - before Thursday's announcement.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said because the pair would not be taking their new places, in and out of the NZX 50, until March 22, yesterday's share trading was generally from the retail 'mom and pop' shareholders.
He said there would be expectations that large institutional investors, who generally must have a spread of stakes in NZX 50 companies in their portfolios, would be selling their Abano holdings from March 22 and replacing them with Methven shares.
Abano released its six-months-to-November trading report in December and is expected to release its full-year report in May.
Methven released its six-months-to-September report last November, announcing an 8.3% increase in after-tax profit, from $4.2 million to $4.5 million.
Its full-year report is due in April.
