NZ Stocks: Shares buck the trend to close in the black

The end of the month brought no surprises, but the New Zealand sharemarket outperformed other markets in the region.

The benchmark NZ50 gross index reversed losses earlier in the day to close up 0.65 per cent, or 12.38 points, at 1931.61, while the NZSE-40 capital index was up 0.37 per cent at 1894.88.

Topping moderate turnover of 28.98 million stocks valued at $87.47 million was Telecom's 9.6 million stocks worth $43.15 million.

"Again, we shone out against the rest of the world," Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said.

"All Asia was in the red apart from us. For Telecom in particular, it looked like some good solid offshore buying.

"In general, most stocks moved up. It might be that there was an element of window-dressing for March 31, but there seems to be a lot less of that obvious stuff than a few years ago."

Ahead of the end of the financial year, for some, institutional investors such as mutual funds generally buffed up their portfolios before having to show them to clients.

The market viewed favourably the Commerce Commission's much-awaited decision on regulating power line companies, Mr Wright said.

The commission appeared to have decided that taking too hard a stance would have discouraged investment in infrastructure.

The commission imposed price and quality thresholds on electricity lines companies to limit their natural monopolies, but it backed away from limiting profits.

It has also forbidden the 29 network companies including national grid operator Transpower to lift prices until March 31 next year.

Powerco rose 11c shortly after the decision was released to close at $1.38, while Horizon Energy was unchanged at $2.70.

Auckland International Airport also benefited indirectly from what was seen as a more commercially-oriented decision than expected, closing up 8c at $5.26.

Infratil jumped 6c to 176 on news last week that price hikes at subsidiary Wellington Airport appeared to be sticking.

Financial services company Tower closed up 7c at 204 after announcing its Australian arm had completed a $A30 million ($NZ33 million) capital restructuring to meet its solvency requirements.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority had asked Tower to commission an independent review of its finances following its $75 million annual loss.

Elsewhere in the financial sector, Westpac lost 35c to 1510 on the back of a 22c slide in its Australian counterpart; ANZ rose 11c to 1941, AMP shed 17c to 803, and Baycorp Advantage was down 2c at 626.

Discount retailer The Warehouse lost 4c to 558, while fellow retailers Briscoe Group lost 3c to 186, Hallenstein Glassons was down 5c at 265, and Pacific Retail shed 2c to 210.

Casino operator Sky City was up 6c at 790, Carter Holt Harvey rose 1c to 178, Contact Energy was up 1c at 422, Restaurant Brands lost 1c to 133, fishing company Sanford rose 5c to 520 and Tranz Rail was down 3c at 98.

There were 56 falls and 39 rises on the 135 stocks traded.

The tone from Wall St on Friday was negative after a consumer confidence survey underlined the bleak outlook for corporate earnings and added to concerns about a war with Iraq that will last longer than initially expected.

The blue-chip Dow index lost 0.7 per cent to bring losses for the week to 4.4 per cent.

- NZPA