NZ stocks: benchmark sharemarket index hits fresh high

The benchmark sharemarket index hit a fresh record high today, buoyed by continued weakness in the New Zealand dollar and strong performances by offshore equity markets.

The indicator index, the NZSX-50 gross index, gained 29.63 points to a new high of 3516.99 points, while the NZSX-All capital index rose 5.45 points to 1026.68.

Telecom, which has drifted in and out of favour over the past month, was up 4c at 549.

Fellow blue chip stock Contact Energy started the day on a weak note, at one point falling as much as 7c, but staged an afternoon recovering to end the session up 6c at 730.

Fletcher Building hit a 13-week high, gaining 15c to 835.

Discount retailer The Warehouse rose 2c to 372 after delivering a half year loss of $7.96 million -- in line with expectations.

The group wrote off $87.8m on the sale of its Australian stores, which it sold in December for $A80 million ($NZ92m).

Hamilton, Hindin, Green partner Grant Williamson said the result was solid if the discontinued Australian operations were stripped out. But he said the company sounded cautious about its outlook, warning that sales had been pretty flat since January.

"The Warehouse are one year into their three year transformation programme. You would have to say they've been successful to date, but they still have a long way to go."

Meat processor Affco rose 4c to 39c, in line with a partial takeover offer launched today by its 40 percent shareholder Talleys, which is trying to boost its stake to just over 50 percent.

Mr Williamson said Affco was trading above 40c just over a month ago, but had slipped on the back of perceived weakness in the meat industry.

"Although the sector may struggle over the next year or so, taking a longer term view 39c does seem to be a wee bit on the cheap side," he said.

Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) fell 4c to 215, edging closer to a $2.10 a share takeover offer by its majority shareholder, Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL).

CCHL's offer has attracted some controversy, as if its gains 100 percent of the port, it plans to onsell almost half the port to Hong Kong' Hutchison.

The deal is conditional on CCHL gaining full control of LPC, a move made more difficult by Port Otago, which boosted its stake in LPC to just over 10 percent last week through a stand in the market.

A raft of stocks went ex-dividend today, including Sky Tv (ex-div 4cps) down 5c to 610; Air New Zealand (ex-div 2.5 cps) down 5c at 133; and Cavalier (ex-div 5cps) down 2c at 290.

ING Property Trust, which on Friday walked away from a $1.25/share offer for Calan Healthcare Properties Trust, went ex-div 2.4 cps, and ended the day down 2c at 118.

Of the 153 stocks traded there were 79 rises and 58 falls.

- NZPA