NZ shares shrug off offshore jitters

By NZPA

Friday 27th April 2007

The sharemarket ended the week on a mildly positive note but brokers noted it was a good effort compared with its nearest neighbour.

"I think they've performed incredibly well, especially since how the Australian market's trading," Joe Gallagher, an institutional adviser with Goldman Sachs JB Were, said.

The NZSX-50 index crept up 6.54 points or 0.15% to 4181.44 on $105 million worth of shares.

In comparison, Australian shares fell 1% on Friday as investors eyed key US economic GDP data due out tonight.

Brokers noted low liquidity today heightened price swings in some shares.

The Warehouse lost 18c to $6.92 after the Commerce Commission delayed for a third time its decision on requests for takeover clearance from two major supermarket groups.

"I think a lot of it is people sick and tired of having their money in this stock -- it's dead money for another month," Gallagher said.

However, the turnover was low and he did not think the delay signified either a negative or positive decision.

Tourism-related stocks were enjoying a rise on the back of improving tourism figures.

Air New Zealand shot up 6c to $2.85, briefly touching a year high of $2.87, and Auckland Airport rose 6c to $2.48. Tourism Holdings Ltd, which yesterday said its June year net profit would be at the higher end of its forecast range, rose 10c to $2.27.

"The comments from Tourism Holdings during the week, I think, has helped give that whole sector a lift," Gallagher said.

Volatile Telecom slipped a cent to $4.79. A media report said analysts expected Telecom to post almost flat third quarter profits next Thursday but the focus was still on the size of the capital return to shareholders from the Yellow Pages sale.

Telecom is expected to report a net profit after tax of $225 million compared with $222 million a year ago, a Reuters poll estimated.

The exchange's regulator, the NZX, itself a listed company, rose 24c to $10.04 after reporting a 50% rise in first quarter operating profit.

Vector eased a cent to $2.88 after announcing it was taking a conditional stake of up to 19.9% in AX-listed company NZ Windfarms.

NZ Windfarms bounced 10c to $2.00 as it said it was considering a $75 million share issue which would include the Vector stake.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances, which yesterday joined the ranks of exporters shifting production to cheaper countries, fell 3c to $3.57.

Its twin, Healthcare, rose 3c to $3.65 and fellow currency-related stock Sanford gained 3c to $4.55.

Biotechnology and forestry company Rubicon touched a year high of $1.03, before slipping back to $1.00, up 4c.

ANZ Bank dropped 53c to $34.00 after it posted a record first-half profit, up 12%, but warned rapid growth in personal banking was unlikely to be sustained.

Other moves included Mainfreight, down 15c to $7.30, NZ Refining up 10c to $6.70, Port of Tauranga down 5c to $6.40, Fletcher Building up a cent to $11.46, and Contact Energy up 2c to $9.15.

Falls outnumbered rises 62 to 47 on 153 stocks traded.

Across the Tasman, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 60.7 points to 6151.5 in mid-afternoon trading as US growth data loomed.

On Wall St, a fresh wave of better-than-expected profits from such companies as 3M Co and Exxon Mobil Corp propelled the blue-chip Dow Jones index to its second straight close above 13,000.

The industrial average finished up 15.61 points, or 0.12%, at 13,105.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed up 6.57 points, or 0.26%, at 2,554.46.

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