NZ stocks: Some gains as players return to work

12.00 pm

The New Zealand sharemarket began the week on a positive note as market players began to drift back to work after the holidays.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 capital index was up 14.97 points, or 0.73 per cent, at 2078.91, with turnover of 11.47 million stocks valued at $15.26 million.

Topping turnover was Fisher & Paykel Healthcare with $3.73 million worth of stocks changing hands.

Richard Burton at Forsyth Barr Frater Williams said there had been a few positive moves despite thin volumes, helped by a rising New Zealand dollar.

Telecom was at 511, up 6c, while cyclical stocks Carter Holt Harvey and Fletcher Building also received a boost on small volumes, up 2c at 180 and 6c at 298 respectively.

Fletcher Building is at its highest since July 1999, while Carter Holt is trading at levels last seen six months ago.

"(Carter Holt) has been down and out for a long time, and (majority shareholder) International Paper has been going up a bit. I guess people are just looking at what the next cycle is to buy -- it's people buying the recovery story."

Elsewhere on the market, Baycorp Advantage was up 10c at 750, retailer Briscoe Group gained 7c to 164, discount retail giant The Warehouse rose 2c to 680, Auckland Airport was up 4c at 367 and Waste Management rose 11c at 310.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 5c at 1680, Goodman Fielder rose 4c to 170, Sky Television was up 4c at 405, Air New Zealand gained 1c to 35 and Telstra was up 2c at 672.

On the down side, Contact Energy lost 1c to 398, Powerco was down 4c at 194 and Northland Port lost 5c to 220.

There were 42 rises and 18 falls on the 104 stocks traded.

On Wall Street on Friday, the technology-packed Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 15.11 points, or 0.74 per cent, at 2059.38; the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average closed at its highest point in more than four months, up 87.6 points, or 0.86 per cent, at 10,259.74; and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 7.24 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 1172.51, also a four-month high.

- NZPA