Market climbs in pre-Xmas trading

The New Zealand sharemarket posted gains in thin pre-Christmas trading today, while other markets drifted.

The benchmark NZX50 closed up 15.19 points, or 0.487 per cent, at 3132.304. Turnover was worth $64.07 million. There were 36 rises and 39 falls among the 104 stocks traded.

The market implications of the biggest business story of the day, the narrow vote in favour by Hanover investors on Allied Farmers' debt for equity swap proposal, will be seen tomorrow when Allied Farmers' existing shares resume trading again.

"They got in by the skin of their teeth with 75.4 per cent in favour," said Hamilton, Hindin, Greene broker James Smalley.

Overall, he said the sharemarket day was mildly positive. "Markets overseas were either flat or mildly negative so for our market to grind out a positive performance was not a bad effort," he said.

The features of today's trading included a 3c rise in Restaurant Brands' shares to 163 after the company reported a 4.7 per cent gain in third quarter sales and reiterated its profit forecast.

Nuplex rose 3c to 260 and is near post-capital raising highs. PGG Wrightson fell 1c to 65 after the rights in its capital raising finished trading earlier this week.

Contact rose 20c to 590 and TrustPower fell 5c to 715.

Among the leaders Fletcher Building fell 9c to 774 and Telecom rose 1c to 239.

Air NZ rose 2c to 120, Tourism Holdings rose 1c to 74 and The Warehouse fell 4c to 406.

GPG rose 1c to 1c to 82, NZ Refining rose 5c to 405 and Hellaby rose 1c to 167. Tower rose 2c to 192.

NZX fell 10c to 870, SkyTV fell 2c to 2c to 493 and Auckland Airport fell 1c to 188. SkyCity was unchanged at 327.

Port of Tauranga fell 3c to 702, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay fell 1c to 47 and Pike River Coal fell 1c to 97.

Ryman fell 2c to 204 and NZOG fell 3c to 163. AMP fell 7c to 768.

US stocks fell on Tuesday after a higher than expected climb in US producer price data raised inflation fears. Investors also trimmed positions ahead of a Federal Reserve statement.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 49.05 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 10,452.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 6.18 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 1107.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 11.05 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 2201.05.

- NZPA