"It's perhaps a bit surprising the ComCom hasn't considered new entrants, which are obviously rampant in the telco media space -- it'll be very interesting down the road when it comes to bidding for sports rights," he said.
Spark New Zealand, which opposed the merger, gained 1.2 per cent to $3.53.
Air New Zealand was the best performer, up 4.7 per cent to $2.25. It posted a 24 per cent fall in first-half pretax profit in the face of increasing competition both at home and abroad but fared better than analysts expected.
New Zealand's national carrier was forecast to post a 45 per cent decline in first-half earnings to $186.5m on a 2.6 per cent decline in revenue to $2.63 billion, according to Forsyth Barr analyst Andy Bowley.
Summerset Group gained 3.1 per cent to $5.06 and Z Energy dropped 2.3 per cent to $7.16.
A2 Milk Co bounced 1.7 per cent to $2.37. It dropped 4.5 per cent yesterday after the milk marketer's chief executive and chair sold down their stakes.
"The problem is visibility -- they've executed extremely well compared to Australian peers, but it's hard from the outside looking in to have visibility as to whether that's continuing or not, so it takes on a bit more significance even if it may be perfectly reasonable to take a bit off the table," Goodson said.
Fletcher Building rose 1.2 per cent to $9.80. The second biggest stock by market cap led the index lower yesterday, down 5.2 per cent, after it posted a 2 per cent gain in first-half profit to $176 million that included unexpectedly weak earnings from its construction division.
The shares had soared 54 per cent in the past 12 months on optimism it would benefit from a boom in Auckland residential construction.
"It's bouncing back after yesterday's sharp fall. The key disappointment was the one-off loss in the contracting business, but the stock had obviously had a tremendous run through 2016," Goodson said.
Warehouse Group rose 1.1 per cent to $2.66. It expects to shed a net 130 jobs, or about 1.1 per cent of its workforce, in an effort to save up to $20m a year after slimming down the structure of its retail model to try to strip out duplication.
Vital Healthcare Property Trust gained 0.7 per cent to $2.075. The Auckland-based hospital and healthcare property developer and investor said its first-half net distributable income rose 87 per cent to $35.5 million as acquisitions and developments helped drive rental income growth. Net profit fell to $45.5 million from about $59 million in the previous year.
Port of Tauranga advanced 0.2 per cent to $4.43. It posted an 8.5 per cent gain in first-half profit to $41.9m and raised its full-year guidance, saying both exports and import cargo volumes rose, including a rebound in the outbound log trade. Revenue climbed 2.8 per cent to $125m.
Outside the benchmark index, SLI Systems plunged 24 per cent to 34c.
The Christchurch-based e-commerce software seller more than doubled its first-half loss to $1.28m as a strong New Zealand dollar and the loss of three major customers at the end of the 2016 financial year continued to weigh on earnings.
Revenue declined 12 per cent to $15.7 million. Its preferred measure of growth, annualised recurring revenue, dropped 13 per cent to $31.1 million.
Intueri Education Group was unchanged at 1.6 cents. It halved its full-year loss to $23.3m after taking a smaller charge on impairments, offsetting a 14 per cent decline in revenue. Impairments were $15m, down from $59.8m in the previous year. Revenue fell to $78.9 million from $91.6 million.
Gentrack Group rose 3.3 per cent to $3.43. It expects first-half sales to rise about a fifth as a number of projects came on stream in the period, making up for any headwinds from a strong New Zealand dollar.
