NZ stocks: Telecom leads sharemarket up

12.15pm

Telecom led the sharemarket up in moderate early trading, ahead of the release of the budget this afternoon.

By 11.30 am the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 7.27 points at 2586.35 while the NZSX-All capital index was up 2.93 points at 876.59.

Top stock Telecom rose 3c to 558. Turnover in the bellwether stock accounted for $15.1million of the total market turnover of $24.3 million.

Of the 111 stocks traded by 11.30am, there were 32 rises and 27 falls.

Tower was up 7c at 156, after announcing a profit turnaround. Tower posted a net profit after tax of $20.5 million for the 6 months ended March, up from a net loss of $154.4 million for the same period the previous year. No dividend was declared.

Stocks on the move included Fisher & Paykel Appliances down 1c at 454, F&P Healthcare down 3c at 1270, Fletcher Building up 3c at 440, New Zealand Oil & Gas up 4c at 71, Trustpower up 12c at 422, New Zealand Refining down 4c at 1916, Cavalier up 2c at 480 and Turners Auction up 4c at 496.

Corporate news issued yesterday had no effect on early trades.

Wrightson was unchanged at 140, after Rural Portfolio Investments (RPI) yesterday extended its $1.50/share partial takeover offer to June 16.

Fishing company Sanford was also unmoved at 495, after yesterday posting a profit of $23.74 million for the six months to March 31.

Pacific Retail Group was static at 221, after posting a $22.6 million net loss for the March year yesterday, while Michael Hill Jeweller was unchanged at 580 this morning, after falling 5c yesterday on the back of announcing it was moving services to its operational headquarters in Brisbane.


- NZPA