NZ market rises, Restaurant Brands surges

The New Zealand sharemarket had a positive day, with Restaurant Brands lifting ahead of, and in reaction to, a profit upgrade.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 15.034 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 3213.557. It was the seventh consecutive daily rise in the index.

Total market turnover was worth $81 million. There were 61 rises and 23 falls among the 118 stocks traded.

Restaurant Brands rose 4.4 per cent in early trading, and at 11.17am, in a statement on NZX, the operator of New Zealand outlets of KFC and Pizza Hut increased its profit guidance after resolving a pricing review with a major supplier. The shares closed up 16c, or 8.8 per cent, at 198, a level not seen since the middle of 2002.

"It was a continuation of a theme of a good strong growth," James Lee, head of wholesale equities at First NZ Capital said. It was good to see a New Zealand stock performing well, he said.

Telecom rose 5c to 226, having reached a record low of 218 on Monday. It had a market capitalisation of $4.19 billion today, close to the $4.25b the Government sold it for in 1990 to wholly owned subsidiaries of Bell Atlantic Corp and Ameritech Corp.

Telecom was recovering the ground it lost last week, while some other leaders were lower, Mr Lee said.

Fletcher Building traded as low as 808 but recovered to close up 2c at 812.

Contact Energy eased 4c to 611 but SkyCity rose 5c to 326.

Companies doing business to Australia are seen as benefiting over time from a fall in the NZ dollar against the Australian dollar. On the day, Nuplex eased 4c to 336, Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 1c to 63, GPG was unchanged at 92 and Pumpkin Patch eased 6c to 208.

Allied Farmers steadied to close unchanged at 7.9c as debate continued about the quality of the acquired Hanover loan book.

OceanaGold rose 15c to 330 and NZOG rose 2c to 155.

Among smaller listings, Sealegs rose 5c to 19, while BLIS Technologies fell 1.2c to 9.3 and New Image fell 3c to 35. Smartpay rose 0.2c to 4.2 after a profit forecast and raising of working capital funding.

US stocks ended little changed on Wednesday as worries about bank regulation and a setback for drug company Pfizer offset signs of improvement in the labour market and services sector.

Pfizer, the world's largest drugmaker, fell 1.6 per cent after its Alzheimer's drug did not meet the main goals of a late-stage clinical trial, weighing on the Dow industrials.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 9.22 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 10,396.76. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.48 point, or 0.04 per cent, to 1118.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.11 point to 2280.68.

- NZPA