NZ market rises, new listings welcome

The New Zealand sharemarket posted modest gains on a day in which there was confirmation that another new listing is on the way.

Milk processor Synlait said it will launch an initial public offer of shares this month, while attention is also turning to the debut of trading of Kathmandu shares on the Australian and New Zealand markets tomorrow.

Today the benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 10.545 points, or 0.334 per cent, at 3172.085.

The market received a positive lead from the US market, which continues to defy those who argue equity markets have run too far too fast.

Turnover was worth $87.46 million. There were 41 rises and 30 falls among the 110 stocks traded.

"Wall Street has been building on pretty impressive gains," Adrian Vance at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene said.

Fletcher Building shares lifted 13c, or 1.64 per cent, to 808.

Building stocks in this part of the world did well today and in Australia James Hardie was up 4 per cent at one point, Mr Vance said.

Technology firm Rakon was unchanged at 117 after reporting a first half loss of $6.2 million while signalling a better second half.

"That is a stock that has had two extremes. When it first came on it was on very high multiples. On the forecasts it is giving now it is actually on pretty conservative multiples,' said Mr Vance.

He said there was good volume in property listings today. AMP Office Trust rose 2c to 79 and Goodman Property rose 1c to 104. ING Property rose 1c to 104 and AMP Office rose 2c to 79.

Cavalier Carpets rose 8c to 253 even though it was cautious about the outlook for the residential market in particular at its annual meeting.

Steel & Tube fell 15c to 295 even though it told shareholders it was well placed for a recovery.

Telecom rose 1c to 255 and it today brought forward the timing of the wholesaling of its new 3G mobile network by nearly a year.

Retail sales data for the September quarter showed consumers were wary about lifting spending, but there was an increase in demand for big ticket items.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances was unchanged at 66c, The Warehouse rose 5c to 430, Michael Hill was unchanged at 64 and Hallenstein Glasson eased a cent to 312.

Infratil fell 3c to 153 and Mainfreight rose 10c to 555.

TrustPower fell 4c to 747 and Contact fell 7c to 609. NZ Refining fell 14c to 520. Air NZ rose 3c to 129.

In the United States, blue chips rose for a sixth day, capping their longest winning streak since August, as an upbeat forecast from a top homebuilder and data from China pointed to a strengthening global economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 44.29 points, or 0.43 per cent to 10,291.26, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 0.5 per cent to 1098.51, and the Nasdaq Composite Index up 0.74 per cent to 2166.90.

- NZPA