Telecom leads shares slightly down on mixed trading

By NZPA

Friday 1st June 2007

Stocks put in a mixed performance today as the sharemarket ticked downwards, led by Telecom.

The NZSX-50 benchmark index weakened 0.13% or 5.9 points to 4296.43 on a healthy total turnover of $219 million.

Telecom fell 5c to $4.80 , after the Government said yesterday it was sticking with its preferred three-way regulatory split of the telco.

"Telecom's still stuck within a trading range of around $4.70 to $4.90, so not too much happening with that stock, right at the moment," Grant Williamson, a partner at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene said.

Fletcher Building was still losing ground, down 8c to $12.90 on profit-taking.

Another stock on the downward cycle was PGG Wrightson, down 8c to $1.79 after the rural services company downgraded its earnings forecast yesterday.

But Air NZ soared 13c to $3.10. Williamson said institutional buyers like the airlines' earnings-oriented management.

The company had no doubt also been buoyed by an Australian survey this week which listed Air NZ third behind Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

The Warehouse gained 5c to $6.30 as bargain hunters moved in on shares quitted by investors who have lost patience with the competition clearance procedure of two potential takeover bids.

Listed investment firm Salvus rose 6c to $1.05, while the tightly held NZX rose 30c to a new high of $11.50 following the purchase of internet media company NewsRoom yesterday.

NZX had a monopoly position and had been re-rated, Williamson said.

Takeover target Pod rose 1c to 48c a fter it conditionally accepted a bid for its Designer Textiles International arm. Shareholders will weigh the deal against a full takeover offer from LWR at 50c a share.

Kidicorp was also positive after a takeover offer, up 4.5c to 23 below a management-associated offer of 24c per share.

Other moves included Lombard up a cent to 3c, Tower up 3c to $2.38, Mainfreight up 3c to $7.40, Hallenstein Glasson up 10c to $5.05, Westpac down 75c to $29.25, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 4c to $3.50 and F&P Appliances up 6c to $3.95.

Williamson said Healthcare appeared to be under "a fair amount pressure, mainly dollar-related," while Appliances which plans to move some manufacturing offshore was improving.

Small stocks Abano and Software of Excellence rose 2c to $3.25 and 9c to $2.69 respectively.

Rises edged out falls 60 to 50 on 152 stocks traded.

Across the Tasman, shares rose 0.3% late on Friday as investors continued to take comfort in firmer US and Chinese markets.

On Wall Street, US stocks closed little changed though the S&P 500 edged higher for a record close, helped by plans for a $6.8 billion takeover in the financial sector and data pointing to strength in industrial activity.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 5.44 points to 13,627.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 11.88 points to 2,604.47.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet