NZ stocks: Small rise on market, Telecom unchanged

The New Zealand sharemarket was fairly quiet today with little in the way of corporate news.

The benchmark NZSX 50 gross index closed up 0.45 per cent, or 9.83 points, at 2196.05, while the top 40 index was up 0.54 per cent at 2132.76.

Turnover of 35.31 million stocks was valued at $83.66 million.

Market leader Telecom was unchanged at 519, although it had turnover worth $31.40 million.

Philip Hardie Boys of First NZ Capital said pay-television company Sky TV had a good bounce today, up 17c at 463.

Independent Newspapers Ltd, which currently owns 66 per cent of Sky TV, was up 4c at 432.

INL shareholders voted this week to agree to the sale of INL's New Zealand newspaper assets to Australia's Fairfax Holdings for $1.2 billion.

"Some stocks in reasonable favour of recent times (are) continuing their rallies. Corporate news-wise, there's not a lot out there at the moment," Mr Hardie Boys said.

"There's a little bit of profit-taking across the board. The Reserve Bank of Australia not easing rates was probably the more interesting thing."

The RBA left rates unchanged at 4.75 per cent today, although the market had picked a 25-point cut.

On the market, Auckland International Airport was down 10c at 590, The Warehouse gained 8c to 513, Sky City lost 5c to 940, Contact Energy rose 8c to 508, Carter Holt Harvey was up 4c at 178, Fletcher Building was down 2c at 362, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 2c at 1222 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances lost 5c to 1340.

Tower was up 4c at 144, despite the New Zealand Exchange saying today the company must seek shareholder approval for its alternative capital raising, which could be underwritten by 10 per cent shareholder Guinness Peat Group.

GPG rose 4c to 162.

Tranz Rail was down 1c at 91, Trustpower lost 11c to 489, retailer Briscoe Group was up 2c at 202, Fletcher Forests rose 1c to 115, NZX gained 10c to 435, and Richina was up 2c at 33.

Blis was up 2c at 34 despite the sudden death of founder Howard Paterson, Powerco fell 1c to 169, and Property for Industry lost 2c to 91.

There were 62 rises and 38 falls on the 144 stocks traded.

The market got a positive steer today from Wall St where US stocks closed higher, ahead of the long weekend to mark Independence Day.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 55.51 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 9040.95; the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 7.81 points, or 0.80 per cent, at 982.31; and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 17.26 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 1640.06.

- NZPA