not directly. it might make the share price more attractive to...

not directly. it might make the share price more attractive to people who want income or yield, but the first time the dividends are threatened after a bad qtr, they will leave, Punishing the share price. not the kind of investors you would want in a highly cyclical industry imo.

a buy back directly supports share price by 'buying back' shares. reducing shares outstanding and making each remaining share worth more. this makes not as much sense if the share price is high, but if hypothetically each nst share actually has $30 of value backing it, then buying them for 15 has a lot more bang for buck for shareholders than just giving a dividend thats a ' we dunno what to do with it, we see no compelling growth options, you take the cash'.

dividends vs buy backs is just different ways to return profits shareholders, australias tax favours dividends but for xyclical industries i would far rather see buy backs. high dividends just encourage companies to maintain them when it may not always have the cash or be prudent to do so. it also attracts a short term focus and shareholders who flee at first hiccup.