NZ stocks: Shares end quarter on strong note

The second halting in a week of Air New Zealand share trading failed to stop the market from ending the quarter with a flourish.

The NZSE-40 capital index rose 11.89 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 1860.66, and the small companies' NZSE-SCI capital index was up 43.81 points at 5108.08.

The New Zealand Stock Exchange halted Air New Zealand share trading yesterday morning, pending clarification on comments by Greg Terry, managing director of Brierley Investments, a 30 per cent stakeholder in the troubled airline.

Later in the day Air NZ requested that the halt on trade in its shares stay in place until an announcement on its future was made early next week.

Meanwhile, Standard and Poor's lowered Brierley's credit rating by one notch from BBB-minus to BB-plus and has put it on creditwatch negative for another downgrade.

Regardless, Brierley Investments' shares piled on 7c to 35c yesterday.

Forsyth Barr Frater Williams broker Richard Burton said the market saw some large moves up yesterday because firms engaged in "window dressing" for the end of the quarter.

Some of the bigger moves included Fisher & Paykel, up 40c at $12.45, Baycorp, up 85c at $11.00, Tranz Rail, up 10c at $4.20, AMP up 72c to $22.00 and WestpacTrust, up 35c at $14.35.

Telecom was down 6c at $4.41 after negative comments about Marconi, a British-based telco, and concern about a cornerstone Telecom shareholder Verizon's reducing its shareholding.

Mr Burton said $4.50 was a key technical support level for Telecom, with the next support below $3.50. "So it would want to hold that level."

Fletcher Building rose 10c to $2.60, up 4 per cent, DB Group was up 10c at $4.90, favoured defensive stock brewer Lion Nathan gained 10c to $5.90, Port of Tauranga rose 15c to $7.00 and Ports of Auckland lifted 8c to $5.20.

The Warehouse was up 4c at $6.00, Sky City was up 11c at $11.00, TrustPower rose 10c to $3.00, Richmond was up 10c at $2.45 and Tourism Holdings gained 5c to $1.10.

On the down side, Fletcher Challenge spin-off Rubicon lost 1c to 66c, Vending Technologies lost 5c to $2.25, Carter Holt Harvey shed 4c to $1.48, beverage company Frucor lost 7c to $1.52 and Horizon Energy was down 35c at $11.70.

"Some quite big moves. It will be interesting to see what happens to these markets around the world after the end of the quarter because one would have thought maybe, with a weekend coming up, markets might have been nervous again given what's going on overseas," Mr Burton said.

"A good little bounce in our currency, which is pleasing to see, and some good GDP figures out today.

"I think the [2 per cent quarterly rise in GDP] shows that the economy outside of Auckland is reasonably healthy, and that's been seen in the results of companies that ... are operating in the rural sector."

- NZPA