Telecom pushes NZ market higher

File Photo

The New Zealand sharemarket rose today as Telecom gained 2.83 per cent and TrustPower rose after announcing a share buyback.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 11.715 points, or 0.353 per cent, at 3333.487.

Telecom rose 6c to 218. James Lee, head of international equities at First NZ Capital, said the rise was on good volume but it was not for any particular reason.

TrustPower rose 5c to 735 on a day it announced plans to buyback 2 million shares on market over a period of time. The rise today was on light volume.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 9c to 305 on a day the NZ dollar fell sharply on comments by Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard. The lower NZ dollar helps exporters. Fishing company Sanford also rose 5c to 463.

Dr Bollard said that the relatively high NZ dollar could make continued rebalancing of the economy difficult.

Shares in casino operator SkyCity closed down 1c at 321 and traded as low as 318 after the company said it had been unsuccessful in moves to buy the 50 per cent of Christchurch Casino it does not own.

SkyCity said it had advised Skyline Enterprises of a cash offer it was willing to make, but Skyline had rejected the approach.

Goodman Property Trust fell 1c to 97 after it reported a 3.1 per cent fall in half year after tax distributable earnings to $37.3 million, with the decline partly due to higher financing costs.

The situation of the kiwifruit industry was unclear with more orchards reporting symptoms of the kiwifruit vine disease PSA. Satara was untraded today as was Seeka. Turners & Growers was unchanged at 140. Port of Tauranga fell 5c to 735.

Pan Pacific Petroleum was unchanged at 23 on a day the company explained the frustrations it has experienced with oil exploration at its annual meeting today.

Shares in Ebos Group, which reached a high of 760 early this month, tumbled 17c, or 2.28 per cent, to 728.

Fletcher Building dropped 3c to 812, Mainfreight was down 2c to 739, The Warehouse fell 3c to 382 and Restaurant Brands fell 3c to 270.

Cavalier Corp added 4c to 315, Contact Energy rose 4c to 599 and Nuplex rose 1c to 344.

OceanaGold fell 7c to 468.

Asian markets were mixed today following a weak lead from the United States. Weak Chinese import numbers affected sentiment in the Australian market.

In the US, stocks closed lower thanks to significant gains in the US dollar against other currencies.

The greenback jumped about 1 per cent as concerns grew that Ireland will need to ask other European countries for financial help, as Greece did earlier this year.

The stronger US dollar can hurt profits at US companies that do a lot of business in other countries.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.5 per cent to close at 11,347, the S&P 500 was down 0.8 per cent to 1213, while the Nasdaq was down 0.7 per cent to 2563.

- NZPA