NZ stocks: Shares recover after battering

After taking a battering yesterday, the New Zealand share market managed a healthy recovery today with the support of bargain hunters.

Yesterday the NZSX-50 index dropped more than 2.5 per cent, or 63.6 points, as it followed world markets down. Today it rose 2.126 per cent, or 51.397 points, to 2469.343.

Telecom added 12c to 238, Fletcher Building added 11c to 526, and Contact Energy gained 2c to 551. All have big components in the index.

Turnover was worth $66 million. There were 54 risers and 37 falls among the 120 traded.

The New Zealand share market fell 9.1 per cent in February, reflecting disappointing earnings reports and difficult trading conditions, ASB said in a report today.

The Australian market fell just 5.2 per cent, reflecting a solid performance by several Australian companies, while the US S&P 500 Index had its worst February since 1933.

The biggest losers of recent weeks were among the top performers today on the New Zealand market in percentage terms.

Nuplex rose 5.77 per cent to 110, Hellaby rose 4.88 per cent to 43 and Rakon rose 9.52 per cent to 69. Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 4.17 per cent to 50.

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay rose 11.11 per cent to 50 and related company PGG Wrightson was unchanged at 95. Yesterday PGG Wrightson and Silver Fern Farms agreed on a mediation process after Wrightson defaulted last year on an offer to buy a 50 per cent shareholding in Silver Fern for $220 million.

Guinness Peat Group rose 3c to 57, and Auckland Airport rose 2c to 172.

Losers included Sanford, down 10c to 530, Hallenstein Glassons, down 1c to 205 and Cavalier, down 2c to 115.

Pacific Brands rose 2c to 20 on a day it signalled the closure of two manufacturing plants in New Zealand.

US stocks fell in volatile trading on Tuesday, with the S&P ending below 700 for the first time since October 1996 as persistent uncertainty about the amount of money needed to shore up the financial system overshadowed a hunt for bargains.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 37.27 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 6726.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 4.49 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 696.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.84 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 1321.01.

- NZPA