NZ stocks: Wall St cheer spreads to NZ shares

6.00pm

WELLINGTON - New Zealand shares ended in positive territory today, taking a lead from a more cheerful Wall St.

The benchmark NZSE-40 capital index rose 6.88 points or 0.34 per cent to 2022.38 on a mild turnover of $50.3 million.

Brokers said leading stocks moved largely in line with Wall St, where the Dow Jones industrial average bucked up 58.47 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 8427.41 on comments from IBM about a possible economic up-tick.

"Wall St's had quite a good strong rally... so the market's looking for some more news on what's going on locally," said Richard Burton of Forsyth Barr Frater Williams.

"Here our economy is moving to its own tune -- lower exchange rates, improvements for the farmers and now that recovery's started to move up to Auckland."

Back in New Zealand, a third of the turnover was generated by Telecom, which closed down a cent to 506 on $16.25 million. Profit-takers are thought to have swooped in on the stock, which recently rose as far as 520.

Interest was also notable in Fletcher Building, which rose 5c to 307 after an 8c dividend. Brokers said the stock had broken the key $3 mark and was now being re-rated.

Tranz Rail dropped 11c to 134 on continued rumours that the company will have to raise more capital. That was confirmed after the market closed with an announcement the company would seek a minimum $60 million equity issue before March 2003.

Shares in financial services firm Tower have been put on trading halt pending an announcement tomorrow. Before the halt, Tower was trading up 5c to 355, after which the company hinted its interim results would be below market expectations.

ABN Amro Craig's retail equities dealer Nigel Scott was unsurprised.

"Over the last three months in particular, global insurance and financial companies have all had a haircut on their earnings," he said.

Tauranga-based electricity company TrustPower Ltd rose 10c to 360 after posting a half-year surplus of $23.1 million after tax.

The unaudited result compares favourably with the $12.2 million loss recorded a year earlier, when the severe winter forced TrustPower to buy electricity on the spot market.

Auckland Airport rose 4c to 542, Westpac rose 35c to 1520 on a record annual net profit of $614 million, and the Warehouse rose 6c to 728.

Others on the upside included Carter Holt, up 3c to 165, DB Breweries up 10c to 610, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 8c to 1120 and INL up 2c to 307. Lion Nathan recovered 5c to 595 after a 19c sell-off in the last two days.

On the downside, Powerco fell 2c to 165 after shareholders approved a major acquisition plan this week, and F&P Appliances slid 13c to 1097.

Fishing company Sanford fell 5c to 510 after news that it was closing its Nelson processing plant.

Rises outnumbered falls by 58 to 29 on 136 stocks traded.

Offshore, Wall St's Dow Jones index endured a choppy session which swung in and out of positive territory throughout the day.

There were also strong quarterly results from semiconductor companies.

But tensions are high as investors, disappointed by a bleak consumer confidence number on Tuesday, wait for key reports later this week on US gross domestic product for the third quarter and October unemployment data.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed up 8.56 points, or 0.97 per cent, at 890.71. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 26.19 points, or 2.01 per cent, to 1326.73.

- NZPA