MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares snap 6-day slide; AMP, NZO, ANZ gain, TEL falls

Monday 24th May 2010

New Zealand shares snapped a six-day slide, lifting the NZX 50 Index from a nine-month low, as progress on Europe’s debt crisis rescue and speculation China won’t be aggressive in cooling its economy stoked appetite for beaten-up equity markets. Insurer AMP led gainers.

The NZX 50 gained 11.14, or 0.4%, to 3061.22. Within the index, 27 stocks rose, 10 fell and 13 were unchanged. Turnover was $95.8 million.

AMP, Australia’s largest provider of pension plans, rose 3.7% to $6.95, helped by a 1.7% gain in the S&P/ASX 200 Index in Sydney after a report that China would delay property tax plans that could cool demand in Australia’s biggest market for raw materials. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group rose 2.8% to $26.68.

Pan Pacific Petroleum rose 3.7% to 28 cents and New Zealand Oil & Gas advanced 3.7% to $1.41 as the price of crude oil rose for a second day, buoyed by optimism demand for fuel won’t be derailed by Europe’s debt crisis. New York crude rose above US$70 a barrel.

Pike River Coal, in which NZOG has a 42% interest, fell 3.8% to $1.01. The coal mine developer said on Friday it had completed its $90 million capital raising. Of the pro rata rights issue of $40 million, 72 per cent of Pike’s shareholders took up their entitlements, leaving underwriters led by UBS and McDouall Stuart Group to pick up the balance.

Rakon, which makes crystal oscillators used in navigation systems and mobile phones, gained 2.1% to 99 cents. On Friday it reported a full-year net loss of $5.4 million, from a $4.5 million profit a year earlier while noting a second-half recovery that allowed it to eke out earnings of $800,000 after a first-half loss of $6.2 million.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances, which is scheduled to release its full-year results this week, climbed 1.8% to 58 cents. The manufacturer which shifted plants overseas to cheaper economies closer to major markets has forecast "normalised" full-year profit in a range of $16 million-to-$23 million, with a net loss of $58 million to $65 million projected, reflecting impairment charges.

ING Medical Properties Trust rose 2.5% to $1.23 and Steel & Tube Holdings rose 2.8% to $2.57.

Telecom, the biggest phone company on the NZX, sank 1.5% to $1.96 after announcing it is mulling structural separation so it can bid for the government’s $1.5 billion high-speed broadband rollout. Such a move could result in a downgrade of its ‘A’ credit rating, says Standard & Poor’s.The shares sank as low as $1.92 during intraday trading, the lowest since the early 1990s.

Auckland International Airport, New Zealand’s busiest gateway, rose 0.5% to $1.89. The company said today that growth in international passenger volumes stalled last month, reflecting a drop in visitors from Australia, while traffic on domestic routes accelerated.

Businesswire.co.nz

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