Stocks to watch: All Whites play on market, while Telecom gets more attention

Wednesday 16th June 2010

Sport stories are headlining the media today and these events, inlcuding the All Whites in South Africa, are likely to help Sky TV's share price. Telecom remains active with more news this morning from the Commerce Commission. Another stock to watch is finance company NZF which has successfully raised funds for its lending programme.

Themes of the day: Shares rallied on Wall Street, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index above its 200-day moving average, as upbeat comments from Taiwanese computer chip makers helped lift tech stocks and several European nations completed bond sales that eased concern about the region’s debt crisis. The kiwi dollar rose to 69.84 U.S. cents from 69.39 cents yesterday. The Reserve Bank of Australia released minutes of its last policy meeting yesterday, showing it sees room to pause on raising rates again in New Zealand’s biggest export market.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (FPH): The health-care products maker is rated ‘underperform’ by First NZ Capital analyst Sarndra Urlich, according to the ShareChat website. Urlich cut her forecast for 2012 and 2013 earnings, saying she now assumes a slightly lower-margin product mix, less helpful exchange rate movements and increased costs. The shares fell 3 cents to $3.20 yesterday.

NZF Group (NZX: NZF ): The financial services company announced yesterday that it had successfully completed a $100 million sale of residential mortgage-backed securities, the first such New Zealand sale since the global financial crisis, providing funds for its lending activities. The shares last traded on May 26 at 20 cents.

OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ): The operator of the Macraes gold field said its shares have been added to the Standard & Poor’s TSX Global Gold Index and the S&P TSX Global Mining Index, effective June 21. Shares of the company trade on the Toronto, Australian and NZX exchanges. Chief executive Paul Bibby said the inclusion “acknowledges the improved investor recognition and trading volumes as OceanaGold continues to unlock value across the company.” The stock rose 3 cents to $4.38 yesterday.

Sky Network Television (NZX: SKT ): Shares in the pay-TV company rose 3.5% to $4.80, the highest in a month, yesterday, as a bounty of sports events, including the FIFA World Cup, stoked expectations for a pickup in subscriber numbers.

Telecom (NZX: TEL ): The Commerce Commission today recommended that regulation of mobile termination access services, advising Minister of Communications Steven Joyce not to accept voluntary undertakings from Telecom and rival Vodafone. Telecom shares rose 2 cents to $1.90 yesterday and have shed 26% this year.

Vector (NZX: VCT ): New Zealand’s biggest gas and electricity lines company yesterday said that it would book a one-time profit of $21 million from changes to tax rules and a gain of $52 million in a deal to give Transpower access to its facilities. The shares climbed 1.4% yesterday to $2.14.

Businesswire.co.nz

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