NZ stocks: Contact boosts turnover

The sharemarket had a see-saw day which ended with the top-40 index almost unchanged.

Before the market opened, 9 million Contact Energy shares valued at $27 million crossed at $3.00. The two parcels of 6 million and 3 million totalled more than 1 per cent of the company.

Market speculation was that key Contact shareholder Edison Mission Energy was boosting its holding under a creep provision.

But the broker, Credit Suisse First Boston, would not comment.

Contact closed down 1c at $2.95.

The NZSE-40 capital index closed up 0.92 points, or 0.04 per cent at 2047.60, and the small companies' NZSE-SCI capital index was up 12.37 points at 5440.95.

The Contact crossing boosted total turnover to 26.73 million, valued at $85.53 million.

Richard Booker of DF Mainland said Telecom, down 2c at $5.40, had traded in a 10-point range between $5.37 and $5.47.

"It was a pretty big range, reasonably good volume [$13.30 million]," Mr Booker said.

Several stocks made big gains. Among them was Fisher & Paykel, which rose 25c to a new high of $11.80.

Mr Booker said that at the present price, F&P's whiteware division was undervalued. The healthcare division was estimated to account for around $10.00 of the total share price.

Fish export company Sanford also reached a new high, up 25c at $6.70.

"A number of brokers, including us, have been picking that as a good buy," Mr Booker said.

"The main reason is that people are saying, who's going to benefit from foot and mouth disease and mad cow disease in Europe? Red meat consumption is falling.

"Various brokers have picked Sanford at between $7.00 and $7.50 as its price target. It's at last beginning to do what people have been picking it to do."

Meat exporter Richmond continued its recovery after the recent ownership scrap between PPCS and North Meats, gaining 9c to $2.50.

Alliant and Infratil made a stand in the market for electricity retailer TrustPower, but only 297,000 shares traded. TrustPower closed down 2c at $3.63.

"I think they'll probably find that a little bit disappointing," Mr Booker said.

"I think they were aiming and hoping that today they would have secured a larger stake in TrustPower than that."

Fellow key TrustPower shareholder Australian Gas and Light Co upped the bid range at which it may make an offer to $3.50-$3.95 a share, up from a previous range of $3.30-$3.60.

Tech bellwether Advantage Group hit a new low, shedding 5c, or 9 per cent, to 50c because of continued concerns about its performance, Mr Booker said.

Air New Zealand A and B shares both fell 1c, to $1.09 and $1.42 respectively.

Carter Holt was up 3c at $1.71, Cavalier rose 10c to a high of $5.60, and Tranz Rail gained 3c to $3.75 after news on Tuesday that it was a step closer to selling its long distance passenger TranzScenic service.

- NZPA