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Solid performances by Air New Zealand and Telecom enlivened an otherwise flat day for New Zealand shares.
Air New Zealand soared to its highest level since September 2003, up 17c or nearly 7 per cent to $2.67 before edging back to a close of $2.65. The airline is enjoying cheaper fuel bills thanks to the dollar and improved passenger numbers.
Telecom gained 5c to $4.90 but had "a big day" volume-wise, turning over nearly $50 million in shares. Brokers said Telecom was recovering from a period of weakness based on regulatory uncertainty, as shareholders anticipated a windfall from the sale of its directory business.
Generally the market drifted, despite a recovery on the Australian market and a mildly positive Wall St. The NZSX-50 index rose just 2.26 points or 0.05 per cent to 4182.90 on total turnover of $118 million.
Other stocks in demand were GPG, up 1c to $2.31 on a $14.9 million turnover, and Sky City, up 7c to $4.80 on $6.6 million of shares.
Battered GPG was enjoying a favourable reaction to the sale of its 19.4 per cent stake in Tower offshoot AWM, Macquarie Equities broker Barry Johnson said.
Export-related stocks continued to hurt from the high exchange rate, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 5c to $3.55 and fishing company Sanford down 8c to $4.70. Sanford, which trades in US dollars, warned this week that the high New Zealand dollar and weaker US sales were leading it to a disappointing first-half result.
Also yesterday, the NZAX-listed New Zealand Wine Company repeated its January warning that the high dollar would prevent it achieving its full-year forecast. Its shares closed flat at $2.50.
Other moves included Fletcher Building down 4c to $11.45, Sky TV down 9c to $6.16, Hallenstein Glasson down 8c to $4.87, Rakon up 4c to $4.80, Auckland Airport down 4c to $2.36 and Mainfreight up 4c to $7.48.
Takeover target Summit jumped 20c to $6.35 and Cavotec trailed 10c to $4.60 on low volume after a share placement yesterday.
Falls outnumbered rises 55 to 51 on 152 stocks traded.
Across the Tasman, Australian shares rebounded 0.4 per cent by mid-afternoon as worries that a potential rise in Chinese interest rates would spark another global markets selloff eased.
On Wall St, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at a record high above 12,800 points for a second straight day as robust earnings news fuelled modest gains for blue chips. Better-than-expected earnings from financial heavyweight Bank of America helped to support the Dow, which managed a slight gain from a day earlier.
The Dow index rose 5.20 points to 12,809.04 and the Nasdaq composite index ended down 5.15 points at 2505.35.
- NZPA