Stocks to watch: AMP, Cavalier, OceanaGold

Thursday 16th September 2010

AMP shares rose yeaterday after NAB announced it was relinquishing its bid for Axa, Caralier looks set to benefit significantly from one-off gains associated with the Canterbury earthquake, while OceanaGold is expected to benefit from a near historic high for gold prices.

AMP (AMP): Australia’s second biggest wealth manager rose 1.2% to $6.23 yesterday after National Australia Bank announced that it was scrapping its bid for Axa Asia Pacific Holdings following objects from the antitrust authority.

Cavalier (CAV): The carpet maker’s earning are set to benefit significantly from one-off gains associated with Canterbury's earthquake, according to a broker at Craigs Investment Partners, quoted on the ShareChat website. An estimated 100,000 homes were damaged by the September 4 quake and more than 500 will have to be demolished. Shares fell 1.7% yesterday to $2.90.

OceanaGold (OGC): The Macraes goldfield operator is expected to benefit from the resurgent gold price, with the "alternative asset" last trading at US$1,268.40 an ounce, just off historic highs. Shares were unchanged at $5.25.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances (FPA): The whiteware maker said it has exclusively licensed technology to Brazilian compressor maker Embraco, a Brazilian company owned by Whirlpool, which has a technology sharing alliance with F&P Appliances. The agreement is for use of a compressor is expected to improve energy efficiency by up to 30%. The shares rose 3.6% to 58 cents yesterday.

Pyne Gould (PGC): The boards of Pyne Gould, its Marac unit, CBS Canterbury and Southern Cross Building have formally committed to proceed with the merger and signed a binding merger implementation agreement today, they said in a statement. The merger would take effect on January 1 and the new group would seek a listing on the NZX, they said. Pyne Gould was unchanged yesterday at 41 cents. CBS Canterbury (CBS) last traded on September 10 at $2.75.

Tower (TWR): The insurer said yesterday that it had agreed to compete with Vero Insurance New Zealand for ANZ National Bank’s policyholders after they agreed to end an 18-month dispute. The shares were unchanged yesterday at $1.85.

Themes of the day: Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard kept the official cash rate at 3% and said the extent of this cycle of interest rate increases will be moderate than he flagged in June. He cited the earthquake in Canterbury as being unhelpful for the economy. The kiwi dollar dropped to 72.71 US cents after the statement from 73.13 cents immediately before. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4%.

Businesswire.co.nz

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