2230 GMT - Contact Energy loses a bull in Forsyth Barr after investors piled into the stock ahead of its likely inclusion in the MSCI Standard Index. Contact's share price is up some 4.8% at NZ$9.20 since Dec. 20, and touched a high of NZ$9.80 just before the end of last month. That rally leads Forsyth Barr to downgrade Contact to neutral, from outperform. Analyst Andrew Harvey-Green says Contact's elevation to the index is likely to come at the expense of Mercury NZ. "Our analysis indicates that, all other things being equal, Mercury NZ's share price needs to increase to NZ$7.24 during the 10-day pricing period (starting 20 January 2025) to remain in the MSCI Index, which would be its highest share price since January 2021," Forsyth Barr says. Mercury NZ is at NZ$5.90 today. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 13, 2025 17:30 ET (22:30 GMT)
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