Market gives back yesterday's gains

Allied Farmers shares closed steady at 20c despite the Securities Commission's decision to seek more information on unusual trading of a parcel of those shares in which the price fell 8c to 20c yesterday when only 125,000 shares changed hands in two lots.

Allied Farmers' board has said it did not know who carried out the trades.

Shareholders in the company earlier this week voted in favour of a $396 million deal to buy the assets of failed finance company Hanover and United Finance and to issue shares, and Hanover investors will vote on whether to accept the deal next week.

Overall, the market's NZSX-50 index opened promisingly with a small gain of 6.36 points in the first half hour, but then slipped steadily through the day until the last hour of trading.

It fell 4.3 points to 3127.98 - a drop of 0.137 per cent - as 30.3 million shares valued at $67.16m changed hands. This effectively cancelled out yesterday's 4.6 points lift in the index.

There were 39 rises, and 36 falls among the 110 stocks traded.

Shares in Auckland Airport jumped 6c soon after the market opened but finished the day up just 4c at 190c. Over 5.6m airport shares changed hands.

The company has said improving passenger numbers mean its 2010 profit is likely to be at the high end of its previously announced range between about $93 million and $100m.

Total international and domestic passenger numbers for the first five months of the 2010 financial year have been ahead of its previous planning assumptions, the company said.

Air New Zealand rose 3c to 121.

Other stocks to fall away after an early lift included The Warehouse, up 4c early in the day but closing up only 1c at 412, and Fletcher Building - initially rose 5c but finished up only 3c at 778. NZ Refining Co added 20c in early trade but closed where it started, at 400.

Falls included Telecom, down 6c at 235, Cavalier Corp was down 5c to 245, and NZ Oil & Gas - which has a 40per cent stake in the Albacore-1 exploration well the jackup rig Ensco-107 has spudded in the Taranaki basin - lost 5c to 172.

Other falls included Telstra, down 6c to 434, and Freightways, down 8c to 311.

The top 10 shares by turnover had 17.2m PGG Wrightson rights traded, at a value of $2.42m, beating the 10.1m Telecom shares , which were the most valuable trades at $24m.

Australian shares buoyed by the strong close on Wall Street overnight opened with investors picking up blue chip stocks from energy, financials and materials sectors. Consumer discretionary and healthcare stocks also lifted in early trades, but as on this side of the Tasman profit-taking creamed off some of the momentum.

The benchmark ASX 200 index, which rose to 4646 in early trades, dropped back to around 4607 subsequently, then edged back up to 4639 now, gaining 32.3 points or 0.7 per cent, in line with the US trading. The broader All Ordinaries index was trading at 4652 with a gain of 29.1 points or 0.6 per cent.

On Wall Street, stocks advanced by solid margins on Thursday, as traders looked to the positives in jobs report, which included some calming indicators regarding the state of the battered labour market. A better-than-expected exports data too contributed to the positive sentiment. The major averages all closed in positive territory, although well off their best levels of the day.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.7 per cent to 10,405.83, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.6 per cent to 1102.32, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3 per cent to 2190.86.

- NZPA