MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares rise; Air NZ leads gains, Contact up

Thursday 1st April 2010

New Zealand shares started the second quarter with a gain, after Air New Zealand Ltd. scotched reports its chief executive will leave soon and Contact Energy benefited from high wholesale electricity prices.

The NZX 50 Index rose 8.23, or 0.3%, to 3276.23, its second daily advance. Within the index, 18 stocks rose, 23 fell and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $60.5 million.The market has closed for the Easter break and is scheduled to re-open on Tuesday. Before then, U.S. non-farm payrolls are due out Friday, which has potential to move currency and stock markets that remain open.

Air New Zealand rose 3.2% to $1.31 after the national carrier said a media report that chief executive Rob Fyfe planned to leave in the next 18 months was incorrect. The dapper CEO has won plaudits from New Zealand Inc. for his management, winning the Deloitte/Management magazine Executive of the Year in 2009.

“The market is more positive to the news that he’s staying,” said Stephen Wright, private client adviser at ASB Securities. “He’s got a good reputation but then so has his senior management team.”

Contact Energy climbed 1.1% to $2.04, the highest close since mid-August, helped by higher wholesale electricity prices.

The benchmark stock index ended the first quarter pretty much where it began and Wright said the second quarter may not offer much more in terms of widespread gains. “All year the market is just going to consolidate. There will be more stock picking rather than betting on the whole market,” he said.

Goodman Fielder, the Australian food ingredients company, fell 4.1% to $1.87, leading decliners on the index after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the sale of its oils and fats business to Cargill would result in too much market dominance.

If Goodman can’t overcome ACCC concerns, it will retain ownership and “develop and substantially restructure its operations to improve profitability,” said managing director Peter Margin

Pike River Coal rose 2.2% to 94 cents. Chief executive Geoff Ward said the miner’s first export shipment coincides with “a buoyant and encouraging international market in which world coking coal prices are expected to rise higher than previously forecast.”

In the company’s interim report he notes that BHP Billiton was this month reported to have agreed hard coking coal prices for the April-June 2010 quarter with its Japanese customers at US$200 per tonne. “Pike River is well-placed to benefit from the current international demand,” he said.

Abano Healthcare Group, the investor in specialist medical clinics, fell 0.8% to $5.26. Second-half earnings will be “softer than planned” because of a drop in ACC referrals and a temporary slowdown in Australian Audiology, it said this week. The company will maintain its annual dividend payment at 21 cents.

Vector declined 3.3% to $2.05 and Pan Pacific Petroleum fell 3% to 31 cents.

Among gainers, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay gained 2.7% to 38 cents and Hallenstein Glasson Holdings rose 2.1% to $3.46.

Businesswire.co.nz

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