Star performers set buoyant tone

The sharemarket turned in a good performance yesterday in subdued trade with the attention of many offshore players diverted elsewhere.

"In the UK they have got Wimbledon which they are citing as the reason for their low volumes ... in the US they have got a long weekend coming up - a half day Monday, a full day holiday on Tuesday (Independence Day) and the Fed meeting overnight," said David Price at Credit Suisse First Boston.

"There has been a lot of sitting on the sidelines ... The consensus from the polls is that there will be no movement in rates. So the market is just taking a wait-and-see approach."

"But in general there were some good performances. Fisher and Paykel finished up 15c at 675c on relatively light turnover and The Warehouse (up 11c at 523c) continued their strong rise up after the announcement of the Australian acquisition. That stock will find favour with offshore investors, particularly Australians who have low exposure to it at the moment."

Fletcher Energy grew 20c to 645c as it basked in the recent positive reports from the Pohokura gas field.

"Fletcher Energy should continue to perform - valuations in the market are at 750c and above so there is still quite a lot of room for that stock to move," Mr Price said.

Telecom pulled off its recent lows with a 10c gain to 744c, but uncertainty remains ahead of the release today of the government-commissioned draft report into the telecommunications industry.

The benchmark NZSE-40 capital index closed up 18 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 2040.36 on moderate total turnover value of $82.6 million of which Telecom accounted for $28.7 million.

Rises outran falls by 54 to 42 among the 157 stocks traded.

Carter Holt Harvey added 1c to 183c, while Contact Energy eased 1c to 283c, and Lion Nathan 3c to 472c.

Of the other Fletcher stocks Building was 4c higher at 217c, and Paper 1c at 242c, while Forests held steady at 79c. Baycorp gained 25c to $10.80. It was announced yesterday that Commonwealth Bank of Australia has appointed Baycorp's Australian joint venture, Alliance Group, as exclusive provider of its outsourced debt management services.

Tranz Rail was off 7c at 360c.

- NZPA