NZ stocks: Higher close despite Telecom jitters

The New Zealand sharemarket closed higher on light volume today, despite jitters in top stock Telecom ahead of Thursday's first half result.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was 8.97 points higher at 3350.65, while the NZSX all capital index closed 1.46 points higher at 1000.20.

Turnover was worth just $85 million, a sign investors were sitting on their hands in the pre-result hiatus, ASB Securities head of advisory, Stephen Wright said.

"The market was generally pretty quiet," he said.

"The main volume was in Telecom, leading up to its result on Thursday, which is likely to show a good result for its New Zealand operation, but poor for Australia."

Telecom eased 4c to 566.

The telco is expected to slash the A$1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) valuation of its Australian business by up to A$800 million.

Among the other big stocks, Fletcher Building rose 2c to 753, The Warehouse jumped 8c to 385, Contact Energy rose a cent to 652, and Auckland Airport added a cent to 197.

The star performer of the day was Goodman Fielder, which added 10c to 254 following a positive broker report across the Tasman. UBS started its coverage of the food group with a "buy" rating, citing Goodman's strong cash generation ability and brand positioning.

UBS was one of three investment banks which managed the Goodman initial public offering (IPO) when the company was spun off from Burns Philp & Co Ltd in a A$2.12 billion ($2.35 billion) float.

In other news, Calan Healthcare added a cent to 127 after ING released the details of its $1.25 per unit cash and scrip takeover bid.

Brokers said the full takeover offer, which opens on February 22, would struggle to gain traction as Calan trades above the offer price.

"Calan, at $1.25, is not out-of-line expensive compared with the rest of the sector, so most people are adopting a wait-and-see approach to see if there's any increase in the offer," Forsyth Barr's David Price said.

Mike Pero closed flat at 100 despite a fresh offer from New Zealand Finance Holdings Ltd for all remaining shares at $1.05 per share -- at the high end of independent valuations.

NZF gained just one per cent of Mike Pero in its pre-Christmas bid at 82c, after securing 54 per cent from Gould Holdings.

Capital Properties closed up 3c at 148. AMP Property Portfolios looks set to extend its takeover offer for Capital again as it edges closer to crossing the compulsory takeover line.

It said today it had 88.16 per cent control, less than 2 percentage points shy of the 90 per cent compulsory acquisition threshold. On January 17, AMP had 87.07 per cent and extended the offer until midnight tonight.

AMP can not extend the $1.48 per share offer beyond February 26.

- NZPA