Stockmarket starts well on good news for Telecom

By NZPA

Wednesday 7th November 2007

The New Zealand sharemarket started strongly today, after some good news for Telecom and action around Auckland Airport.

Around 20 minutes after the market's 10am opening, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 56.2 points, or 1.4%, to 4191.6, after yesterday's 5.77 point easing.

After a brief trading halt at the company's request, shares in Auckland International Airport were up 36c, or 12.4%, to $3.27 on news the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is making another offer for a stake in the airport.

Infrastructure investor Infratil was also up on airport news, rising 5c to $3.05, following a report it and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund had increased their combined stake in Auckland Airport to 7.79%.

Shares in top stock Telecom were up 8c to $4.28 after the Commerce Commission raised the price Telecom could charge to supply wholesale access services to competitors in a final ruling today.

Also putting in a solid early showing was The Warehouse, up 10c to $5.50.

Stocks to fall early included Hallenstein Glasson down 5c to $4.45, Sanford down 3c to $4.32, Sky City down 3c to $5.47, and Sky TV down 2c to $5.61.

US stocks rose as oil prices topped $US97 ($NZ126.36) a barrel and lifted shares of Exxon Mobil Corp and other energy producers, while optimism a day ahead of Cisco Systems Inc earnings drove another rally in technology shares.

Investors hunted for bargains among beaten-down bank and financial services shares after the previous session's sell-off left the sector near two-year lows.

Web search company Google Inc, whose price target was raised to $US850 by broker research firm Sanford C Bernstein, advanced to $US741.79, another lifetime high.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.87%, at 13,660.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.2%, at 1520.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.07%, at 2825.18.

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