NZ stocks: F&P Healthcare stars again on sharemarket

6.01PM

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare continued to hog the spotlight on the upwardly mobile sharemarket today.

F&P Healthcare rose 35c to 1465, bringing its gains for the week so far to 100c, or 7.3 per cent.

The company today announced a five-for-one share split, which will occur on October 1 and also said it would extend by six months its share buyback programme that was due to expire at the end of the month.

First NZ Capital's Barry Lindsay said the share spilt had already been flagged to the market, but the details were new. "They said that in September they would announce the terms -- but probably 5 for 1 is perhaps a larger division than some had thought likely," Mr Lindsay said.

Telecom also found some friends today, up 5c at 573, on turnover worth $44.5 million.

The high performing top stock helped the broader market, with the NZSX-50 gross index gaining 17.46 points to 2758.23 and the NZSX-All capital market up 5.43 points to 920.88.

There were 47 rises and 44 falls among the 148 stocks traded today, amounting to modest market turnover worth $96.6 million.

Lion Nathan was unchanged at 302, after taking a 10c dive yesterday after it announced the sale of its China beer business for US$154 million ($237.36 million).

NGC Holdings hotted up, rising 7c to 302, on the back of news that Vector was readying for an initial public offering. "That would make it (Vector) quite an eligible bidder for AGL's stake in NGC," Mr Lindsay said. Interest in the energy stock spilled over to Contact Energy, which rose 9c to 582.

Pumpkin Patch powered to a new post-listing high, rising 7c to 205."That's a pretty impressive performance having floated on the market at a price of $1.25 only in June," Mr Lindsay said.

Hellaby also hit an all-time high today, up 14c to 600. Mr Lindsay called the stock a "quiet achiever" and said it has been on a strong upward trend for some time.

On the downside, Feltex Carpet fell 3c to 157, its lowest point since it listed at 162 in June. Mr Lindsay said the company was performing well, but as the bulk of its sales and earnings were derived in Australia, currency concerns surrounding the strong kiwi versus aussie has put pressure on the share price.

Other stocks on the move today included: F&P Appliances up 3c at 408, Waste Management down 11c at 514, Restaurant Brands up 4c at 132 , Tower up 5c at 215 and Air New Zealand down 4c at 185.

- NZPA