NZ stocks: Market hits high notes

The New Zealand market picked up its heels today after a quiet start to the session, with more than $60 million worth of Telecom shares traded.

Telecom hit a six-month high of 521 during the day before settling to close at 512, up 8c.

ABN Amro Craigs retail equities advisor Nigel Scott said the market leader was a proxy investment in the rising New Zealand dollar, currently hovering near five-year highs, for overseas investors.

"People are still looking for yield out there, we've seen people 'parking' money into New Zealand in the past ..."

The benchmark top-50 gross index was up 19.89 points or 0.99 per cent at 2033.12, easing from its high during the day of 2040 - the highest since June last year, according to data for the index prior to its March introduction.

Turnover of 40.72 million shares, valued at $110.19 million, was topped by Telecom's 11.70 million shares worth $60.01 million.

"The broader market's been pretty quiet. We've had 3.2 million Tranz Rail shares ... and Tower's 9.4 million - that's an awful lot of stock going through," Mr Scott said.

Tower, already undermined by bad news in November, saw its shares tumble nearly 40 per cent yesterday when it announced it would report a half-year loss of $180 million and a $200 million capital raising. The financial services company closed up 6c at 144 today.

"There's a lot of differences of views there, the major one thinking that the write-down then the potential cash-issue seems an awful lot, and who's going to be positioning themselves behind this company during the weakness in the share price.

"We've seen it in the past - problems in some financial intermediaries and then someone comes and picks up all the pieces, and clearly that's where (shareholder) Guinness Peat Group still sits," he said.

GPG was up 1c at 160.

Elsewhere on the market, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare closed unchanged at 1070 once the market digested news of its 17 per cent lift in March year net profit to $72.9 million.

Shares in F&P Healthcare had earlier reached a six-month high of 1090, while its sister stock F&P Appliances closed down 10c, also at 1070.

Tranz Rail closed up a further 6c at 93, Carter Holt Harvey was up 3c at 161, Fletcher Building rose 2c to 335, Independent Newspapers Ltd gained 3c to 413 while its pay-TV asset Sky TV was up 12c at 422 after news yesterday it may break even in its annual result.

The Warehouse was up 1c at 444, Sky City Casino rose 17c to 815, and Restaurant Brands gained 1c to 141.

AMP was down 6c at 567, Fletcher Forests was down 2c at 99, Vertex shed 7c to 155, and Powerco lost 1c to 163.

There were 55 rises and 38 falls on the 137 stocks traded.

- NZPA