NZ stocks: Sharemarket index hits fresh high

The sharemarket's benchmark index pushed to a fresh high today, as traders kept a close eye on the US presidential election.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index moved up for the sixth day running, gaining 14.15 points to 2867.58, while the NZSX-All capital index rose 5.06 points to 948.71.

Turnover was worth $148.5 million, with 59 rises and 40 falls among the 157 stocks traded today.

ABN Amro Craig's Matt Willis said the market was keen to see a swift result for the US election. "I think the consensus view is that... a resolution either way will help the markets," he said.

Helping to buoy the market was bellwether stock Telecom, which rose 3c to 585 on turnover worth $79.9 million. Reuters said analysts are expecting the telco giant to report a 14 per cent rise in first-quarter profit this Friday.

Auckland International Airport also had a good day, rising 22c, or 2.9 per cent, to 758. Mr Willis said the price rise was probably a delayed reaction to Air New Zealand's recent comments that the airline would not use Whenuapai if it was turned into a commercial airport.

"That effectively renders Whenuapai a dead duck I would think, if Air NZ is not going to use it for any of their services."

Energy firm NGC was unchanged at 309, after the Takeovers Panel yesterday stymied part of a deal for Vector to buy Australian Gas Light's 66 per cent stake in NGC for $3 per share.

The de al was subject to an exemption from the panel. The waiver would have allowed AGL to sell its New Zealand holding company to Vector, rather than its NGC shares.

Both Vector and AGL said today they were confident the deal would proceed despite the panel not granting the waiver.

Meanwhile Powerco zoomed up 7c to 212, after Prime Infrastructure yesterday succeeded in its $2.15 per share takeover offer. Prime received acceptances for 94.6 per cent of Powerco, pushing it past the threshold required to spark a compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares.

Mr Willis said today's price spike was probably an arbitrage trade. "As a local shareholder you wouldn't be buying it to get the settlement structure that was offered, so there must be an arbitrage player there," Mr Willis said.

Urbus Properties rose 2c to 107 on the back of the announcement of an after-tax profit of $13.6 million for the September half year, up 12 per cent on the previous corresponding period.

Waste Management gained 3c to 546, after buying an Auckland waste collection business for $2 million .

Other stocks on the move today included: Carter Holt Harvey down 3c at 311, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 5c at 304, Sky Network TV down 4c at 566, and TrustPower up 22c at 515.

- NZPA