Mixed trade on NZX

By NZPA

Friday 8th April 2005

The sharemarket tiptoed higher in a session of mixed as investors continued to search out pockets of value.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 2.21 points at 3057.63, while the NZSX-All capital index was up 0.10 of a point at 985.34.

Turnover was $84.3 million, including $41.7m worth of Telecom, its shares down 1c at $6.07.

Hamilton Hindin Greene broker Grant Williamson said the 215,731 Contact Energy shares traded was indicative of the market's performance of a whole.

Contact fell 4c at $6.61, down from $7.24 on March 10.

"It's been a mixed day, there's just not much going on," Williamson said.

PumpkinPatch said it would dip a toe in the US retail market later this year, but says the plan won't impact on its rosy earnings outlook for the current financial year.

"That's a very sensible approach, but the market didn't appear to like that, perhaps looking for a change in dividend policy," Williamson said.

PumpkinPatch shares closed down 12c at $3.20 on the news.

A number of stocks continued to trudge higher, having dropped considerably in the past month, Williamson said.

Fletcher Building gained 3c to $6.66 as investors continued to see value in the stock, which touched $7.52 on March 7.

Steel & Tube recovered another 1c to close at $4.71, having fallen from $5.55 on March 4.

Meanwhile, Wrightson Finance, a unit of Wrightson Ltd, said it was considering issuing $40m to $60m of retail bonds. Wrightson shares were up 1c at $1.80.

In other market news, Graham Roberts, formerly an executive with courier companies DHL and TNT, has been appointed chief executive of Turners Auctions, whose shares were up 5c at $3.75.

Tower, up 2c at $1.86, has appointed financial services consultant Pieter Lindhout as chief executive of its New Zealand General Insurance and Direct Risk businesses.

Also in the insurance sector, AMP was up 6c at $7.35, while Axa Asia Pacific was up 4c at $4.46.

Fast food operator Restaurant Brands was up 2c at $1.32 after yesterday posting a 33% rise in its February year profit to $10.7m.

In the retail sector, Hellaby was down 15c at $5.85, Michael Hill International was down 15c at $8.00, Briscoe was up 3c at $1.25, and PostiePlus was up 4c at 70c.

Overseas, the Dow Jones closed up 60.30 points at 10,546.32, the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 7.07 points at 1191.14, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 19.65 points at 2018.79.

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