NZ stocks: Volume high but shares lack offshore enthusiasm

The New Zealand sharemarket ended mildly positive but ignored optimistic rallies overseas.

On Wall St, the Dow Jones index shot up nearly 2 per cent as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made comments on inflation that suggested two years of interest-rate rises might be coming to an end.

Back home, the benchmark NZX-50 index rose 9.476 points to 3541.65 on a very strong total turnover of $396.9 million.

"I would have expected a decent rally today but it hasn't happened," Greenslades client adviser Chris Timm said.

Hampering the performance were falls in the index's two top stocks.

Fletcher Building fell 6 per cent or 6c to 865 on turnover worth $19 million.

But the news of the day was a large crossing of Telecom shares, which saved the stock from being trapped under the psychological $4 mark.

Nearly $324 million Telecom shares were traded, leaving the stock a cent off at 403. A single line of 70 million shares worth $280m were traded at $3.99 this afternoon, sparking interest in the lacklustre stock.

Mr Timms said the trade was substantial enough for the identity of the yet-unknown seller to be notified.

Meanwhile, Fletcher Building continued to suffer from growing fears the housing sector was slowing on both sides of the Tasman.

Mr Timms said the stock was, in his opinion, oversold, given that much of FB's business was in construction.

F&P Healthcare, which along with its twin had been sold off hard in recent days, was up 13c today to 430.

Other risers included Contact, up 3c to 710, Nuplex up 10c to 650, Westpac up 92c to 2656, Pumpkin Patch up 7c to 430, and the Warehouse up 5c to 475.

Falls included Ryman, off a cent to 889 on heavy volume, Hallenstein Glasson down 10c to 560 and Steel & Tube down 3c to 472.

Electricity lines company Vector fell 3c or 1.2 per cent to 248 after news the company and the Commerce Commission are trying to achieve an administrative settlement for price breaches.

The commission said it was trying to avoid the imposition of price controls.

Rises outnumbered falls 62 to 38 on 144 stocks traded.

- NZPA