NZ stocks: Fletcher Building down 7 per cent

The New Zealand sharemarket had a mixed day with rises more than doubling the number of falls, but the benchmark index was down 0.18 per cent.

The NZ50 gross index lost 3.53 points to close at 1972.06, after starting the day in the black, while the top-40 index fell 0.54 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 1939.46.

Moderate turnover of 29.46 million stocks, valued at $81.38 million, was topped by Telecom's $32.23 million.

Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said the New Zealand market started off firmly, particularly casino company Sky City which raced up to 830 before retreating to close at 805, up 5c.

The company gained as it gave presentations to analysts today. "They certainly zoomed up for a while, and I think it's the same old story - they had a bit of momentum going, and then when the momentum stopped people began to sell out of them again," Mr Wright said.

Market leader Telecom rose 4c to close at 472, and its Australian rival Telstra was up 3c at 468. The Fisher & Paykel companies continued to rise, with Appliances up 1c at 1026 and Healthcare up 7c at 1000.

Baycorp Advantage was up 6c at 154, having risen off a record low of 104 on March 3, and Tranz Rail scraped back a little of its 18 per cent fall to a record low yesterday, closing up 2c at 79.

"Tranz Rail's a bit like Baycorp after its last plunge - you have a few days of solid selling where one or more institutions clears its books and then it starts to pick up," he said.

"I'm not saying we're at the picking up stage yet, but it's certainly rallying from private investor buying after each big sale during the day."

Tranz Rail said revenue for the March quarter was $11.3 million below forecasts at $157.2 million, blaming the fall on "climatic conditions".

Fast food company Restaurant Brands closed up 5c at 140 after announcing today its February year net profit had been halved.

The company, which has the KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks coffee franchises, announced a net profit after tax of $11.1 million, down from $23.3 million profit in the same period a year earlier.

Jeweller Michael Hill International was up 20c at 435 after better-than-expected retail sales figures out today, although volume was small.

Among fellow retailers The Warehouse was up 1c at 548, Briscoe Group gained 3c to 188, and Hallenstein Glassons rose 4c to 289.

Fletcher Building was hammered down 7 per cent, or 23c, to close at 320 after it said late in the session that high power prices would reduce second half earnings by at least $10 million.

"Fletcher Building is a good company and it's still cheap but once you start to get more than one negative people start to sell out of it, and over time people have been saying the building sector is going to slow down. That might not be for six months, but markets are always looking ahead," he said.

Fellow big energy user Carter Holt Harvey was down 4c at 169.

AMP was down 5c at 815, AXA shed 4c to 238, Auckland International Airport lost 2c to 518, Powerco lost 2c to 148, and Contact Energy was down 4c at 446.

Scott Technology jumped 28c to 270 after it announced yesterday a 270 per cent profit increase for the six months to February of $2.49 million.

There were 59 rises and 23 falls among the 121 stocks traded.

On Wall St, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average rose 23.26 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 8300.41; and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 1.08 point, or 0.12 per cent, to 879.93.

In London, the FTSE-100 finished up 121.4 points or 3.2 per cent at an 11-week high of 3935.8.

- NZPA