The sharemarket closed at a new high yesterday after a buyer emerged for CanWest MediaWorks, and investors held on in the hopes of further corporate activity.
The NZX-50 index rose 0.5 per cent, or 20.64 points, to 4223.23, some 12 points below its record high earlier in the
session.
Barry Lindsay of First NZ Capital said demand was outstripping supply, pushing stocks beyond their fundamental valuations.
"We're not getting, on average, strong earnings growth in an economy that's growing slowly, so we're getting a rerating of the market."
The index has risen about 14 per cent in the past 12 months, and is up about 4 per cent since the start of the year.
CanWest MediaWorks, the owner of television stations TV3 and C4 along with a stable of radio stations, rose 5c to $2.39, below the $2.43 per share offer from Australian private equity company Ironbridge.
Fellow media stock Sky TV jumped 14c to $6.04.
"It's more a kneejerk reaction that one media stock goes, it reduces the available opportunities and the expectation that money that might come out of CanWest will stay in the same sector," Lindsay said.
SkyCity rose 9c to $4.91 on news across the Tasman that Publishing and Broadcasting is to split its gaming interests and its media assets into two separate companies.
Shares in Telecom were up a cent at $4.81, while Fletcher Building rose 16c to $11.68 - 9c below its record high earlier in the session.
Auckland International Airport fell 4c to $2.65, after the airport company said on Monday that it had received no approaches, following media reports of a failed attempt on its share register.
The Warehouse rose 12c to $6.88.
Sealegs rose 8c to a record 80c on news of delivery of six new amphibious boats in Italy and the appointment of a new distributor for the Middle East.
- NZPA
