MARKET REPORT: Tourism holdings rises, market little changed

Friday 15th April 2011

Fletcher Building shares regained some of the ground they lost in recent days as an index change loomed and Tourism Holdings shares surged in reaction to a partial takeover, but overall the sharemarket was little changed.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 1.796 points at 3452.685, having slipped 3.1 points yesterday. Turnover was worth $88 million. There were 48 rises and 42 falls among the 119 stocks traded.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) lifted 6c early, but was down a cent at $9.18 by the end of the session. The company's stock price has fallen back from a three-year high of $9.53 early this week.

Fletcher Building took up its a larger weighting in the NZX 50 at the end of today. People had purchased shares ahead of the change, which was occurring in stages, said David Price at Forsyth Barr. The company has a larger weighting after issuing shares as part of its takeover of Crane Group.

Tourism Holdings (NZX: THL ) closed up 10c at 70 and traded as high as 71 after 19.4% shareholder Ballylinch launched a bid for control of the campervan operator at 67.5 cents a share.

"The stock has been plagued by poor earnings for the last wee while but the stock has been trading below net asset backing," Price said.

The market was indicating that it expected a higher bid.

OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) shares were up 7c to $3.77, NZOG (NZX: NZO ) rose 2c to 97 and NZ Refining (NZX: NZR ) was unchanged at 52.

PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ) was unchanged at 52 and the company said today that Agria Singapore Pte has Overseas Investment Office approval for its bid for control of the agriculture services firm.

Rakon (NZX: RAK ) rose 3c to $1.19 and Tower (NZX: TWR ) rose 3c to $1.88. The Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) rose 5c to $3.52. Xero (NZX: XRO ) rose 3c to $2.53,

Port of Tauranga (NZX: POT ) rose 7c to $8.40.

TrustPower (NZX: TPW ) rose 4c to $7.40 and Michael Hill (NZX: MHI ) rose a cent to 90.

Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) eased 4c to $5.80 and SkyCity (NZX: SKC ) eased 4c to $3.44. Hallenstein Glassons (NZX: HLG ) eased 10c to $3.90 and APN News (NZX: APN ) eased 4c to $2.08. Skellerup (NZX: SKL ) eased 3c to $1.30. SkyTV (NZX: SKT ) eased 5c to $5.78.

In the US, concerns about faltering growth and inflation prompted investors to seek out less volatile companies, with Coca-Cola Co up 1.5%, Kraft Foods Inc up 1.7% and Merck & Co up 1.2%.

Energy shares rallied as US crude oil futures gained more than 1% to trade above US$108 a barrel.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.1% to end at 12,285.15, the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 0.01% to 1314.52, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1% to 2760.22.

NZPA

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