Telecom spurs NZ sharemarket out of seven day losing streak

Monday 9th February 2004

The New Zealand sharemarket shrugged off its recent string of lacklustre performances to finish on a Telecom-driven positive note, a broker said.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 was up 22.26 points at 2453.64, while the NZSX-40 capital index was up 19.40 points at 2267.30.

Both indices had previously finished down for seven consecutive sessions, having last traded higher on January 29.

Today, there was $103.8 million worth of shares traded, of which Telecom accounted for $61 million worth.

Telecom shares closed up 10c at $5.65 after earlier nudging $5.71 in the session, their highest since June 2001.

The surge in the telco's share price followed confirmation of its second quarter $365 million net profit late last week

Greenslades broker Paul Valk said the surge in Telecom shares had pulled the sharemarket out of the doldrums.

The company's solid performance and improved dividend forecast had attracted investors.

"I think it's pretty fair value for their (Telecom's) shares," he said, noting the local market had also followed the positive lead of the United States-based Dow Jones industrial index.

Meanwhile, Telecom today announced a much more attractive residential broadband Internet scheme.

Courier company Freightways today posted a December half net profit of $8.49 million, its maiden result since listing last year.

Its shares closed up 7c at $2.39.

Brewer Lion Nathan today reconfirmed its net profit after tax forecast of between A$195 million ($219 million) and A$200 million for the 2004 year.

The Australia-based company said wine and beer sales had improved over the December quarter. Lion Nathan shares closed up 5c at $6.80.

In other market news, the number two and three stocks, respectively, Contact Energy and Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) also contributed to the positive tone.

CHH was up 3c at $1.92, while Contact was up 3c at $5.26 on minor volume.

Other stocks on the move included: Auckland International Airport up 9c at $6.70, AMP up 11c at $4.93, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 14c at $12.45, Ports of Tauranga up 10c at $4.45, The Warehouse up 2c at $5.10, Cavalier down 5c at $5.10, Ports of Auckland down 10c at $7.60, Infratil down 3c at $2.70, ANZ Bank down 15c at $19.80.

There was $36,650 worth of trading on the New Zealand Alternative Exchange.

Overseas, the Nasdaq Composite Index surged 44.45 points to 2064.01, the Dow Jones rose 97.48 points to 10,593.03, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 14.17 points to 1142.76.

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