NZ stocks: Market rebounds more than 1pc

The New Zealand market put in a good performance for a Monday following on from a positive session on Wall St.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index closed up 26.69 points, or 1.26 per cent, at 2137.06, while the top-40 index was up 1.07 per cent at 2074.11.

Volume was moderate, with 31.87 million stocks changing hands valued at $85.86 million.

JB Were investment adviser Paul Savory said sentiment was positive particularly for high-yielding stocks. Leading the way up was Telecom, which rose on healthy turnover of $48.02 million.

"We've seen strong flow in Telecom, both ways, it pushed the price up (12c to 517), just over 2 per cent.

"There's positive sentiment on the back of the announcement with Sky TV on Friday," he said.

Telecom and Sky TV have signed a five-year resale deal, which could result in Telecom delivering Sky content over its networks, development of pay-per-view and video on demand services, and interactive television.

The news was not so beneficial for Sky TV, which fell 1c to 449.

"We've just seen the market chasing yield, so we've seen Contact Energy, and Sky City improve, ahead of Thursday's probable rate cut."

If the Reserve Bank cuts its official interest rate as expected this week, that will mean shares that offer decent dividends will compare favourably with the lower return from banks.

Contact rose 11c to 474, Sky City gained 22c to 888, Westpac rose 25c to 1725, and Nuplex also ended strongly, up 8c at 372.

"I think Telecom's probably going to end up being a yield story down the track as well," Mr Savory said.

"People are just chasing quality. It's quite positive for a Monday... "

Trustpower went ex-dividend 17.5c per share today, so its final price of 485, down 15c, was technically a positive finish.

Commercial property investor Urbus Properties listed on NZX's main board at 95c, but ended the day at 92c.

Auckland International Airport rose 10c to 586 on light volume, Restaurant Brands gained 2c to 128, The Warehouse was up 5c at 484, Tourism Holdings Ltd gained 3c to 119, and Air New Zealand was up 1c at 50.

On the downside, Tower lost 2c to 120, Fisher & Paykel Appliances was down 3c at 1265 while F&P Healthcare lost 7c to 1133, Briscoe Group shed 1c to 193, NZX lost 13c to 467, and Cavalier Corp was down 5c at 445.

There were 52 rises and 36 falls on the 138 stocks traded.

On Wall St on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 1.5 per cent, or 137.33 points, at 9188.15; the broader Standard & Poor's 500 gained 1.18 per cent to 993.32; and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.62 per cent at 1708.51.

- NZPA