A major rise in Port of Tauranga's share price hogged the limelight during a moderately healthy day's trading on the New Zealand sharemarket.
Port of Tauranga rocketed 97c or nearly 20 per cent to 602 on $3.1 million worth of shares, after announcing it was looking at a merger withthe unlisted Ports of Auckland.
The move is seen as a response to calls for rationalisation among ports, particularly from major shipping companies.
Northland Port Company, in which Ports of Auckland is a major shareholder, rose 15c or 5 per cent to 305.
Lyttelton Port was up 4c to 211, and Infratil, a stakeholder in Port of Tauranga, was down 2c to 426.
On the wider market, the NZX-50 index was up 18 points or 0.5 per cent to 3614.23 on total turnover of $143 million.
One broker said volume today was the best it had been for a couple of weeks but there was little news to drive it along.
"There's not really any particular reason out there, it just seems to be a spread of portfolio stuff in the market," James Snell, of First NZ Capital, said.
Underpinning the market was a 6c rise in Contact to 732, a one cent rise in Provenco to 90c, and a 6c surge in Telecom's price to 419.
Steel & Tube rose 12c to 470 and Turners Auctions were up 7c to 170, as was Software of Excellence.
Australasian insurer Promina jumped 46c to 736 after market talk that Suncorp-Metway Ltd may make a A$7.50 ($8.55) takeover bid.
On the downside, Fletcher Building fell 5c to 875, Fisher Healthcare fell 7c to 410, Michael Hill lost 20c to 680, Hellaby dropped 10c to 495, and The Warehouse eased 11c to 652.
Rises outnumbered falls by 55 to 38 among 139 stocks traded.
