Big guns rise as market climbs before Christmas

Photo / Martin Sykes

The New Zealand sharemarket posted modest gains in quiet trading yesterday ahead of the Christmas holiday break.

The NZX-50 index closed up 11.38 points, or 0.343 per cent, at 3333.76, having opened slightly ahead. The Australian market was buoyed by corporate activity and strong commodity prices. Wall St rose to its highest level since Lehman Brothers collapsed.

Telecom rose 2c to $2.24, Fletcher Building rose 4c to $7.83 and Contact Energy rose 8c to $6.25.

Retailers were mixed after electronic transaction company Paymark said this week that the last weekend before Christmas had not been a good one for retailers. Weaker than expected growth data yesterday also reinforced the view that the economy is struggling to recover. The Warehouse fell 6c to $3.59 and Michael Hill fell 1c to 87c. Hallenstein Glasson was unchanged at $4.09.

NZ Oil and Gas was unchanged at 83c on a day ACC disclosed it had increased it stake to 6.38 per cent from 5.01 per cent. OceanaGold fell 8c to $4.92 as it spelled out plans to increase activity at its Reefton and Macraes open cut mines.

Vector fell 5c to $2.30 on a day it expressed disappointment with a final determination by the Commerce Commission on input methodologies for electricity and gas distribution businesses. The company is considering if it will pursue appeal options. PGG Wrightson fell 1c to 48c as it received payments form NZ Farming Systems Uruguay for the previously announced buyout of a management agreement.

Infratil, which released a monthly newsletter updating the performance of its investments, was unchanged at $1.92. The company this week signalled the early closure of a sale of infrastructure bonds due to strong demand. Abano Healthcare rose 3c to $4.84 after saying its Aotea Pathology would provide services to Wellington region district health boards for another three years. Mercer Group was untraded after reaching agreement with Westpac to extend a funding facility for another year.

US stocks edged higher yesterday as gains in financial stocks helped put the S&P 500 on pace for a fifth-straight winning session and lifted the benchmark index to levels not seen since before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 26.33 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 11,559.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 4.24 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 1255.08. The Nasdaq gained 3.87 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 2671.48.

- NZPA