NZ stocks: Top 50 index on the rise

The sharemarket's index of top 50 stocks was on the rise this morning, driven higher by share price rises for Telecom and Contact Energy.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 11.58 points at 3010.82, while the NZSX-All capital index gained 4.34 points to 9964.08.

Both indices were on two week highs.

Market heavyweight Telecom was up 5c at 615, while shares in second-ranked Contact Energy were up 1c at 697.

Early turnover was $24.2 million, including $9.4m worth of Telecom shares.

Fletcher Building was down 2c at 620, but $3.7m worth of the firm's shares had changed hands.

ABN Amro Craigs broker Matt Willis said the market had taken its positive tone from offshore bourses.

"The market seems to have come out of the storm... and there are pockets of value emerging," Mr Willis said, referring to its six-week decline since mid March.

"The trade today has (so far) been on relatively good volume and we've seen some value buying going on, but its quite stock specific."

AMP NZ Office Trust (Anzo) was out of the blocks early, reporting a net profit of $25.6m for the nine months ended March, down 2.6 per cent on the previous same period.

Shares in Anzo, the country's largest listed office property investor, were unchanged at 90c, having earlier been up 1c.

Financial services firm AMP was also on the rise, gaining 2c to 717, while Tower was up 3c at 185.

Debt collector BayCorp Advantage's shares fell 2c to 306 after news yesterday its Australian arm was under scrutiny from that country's competition regulator.

Of the listed retail stocks, Hellaby was up 12c at 584, PumpkinPatch was up 5c at 270, Briscoe Group was down 2c at 121, and PostiePlus was down 4c at 61.

Sky City Entertainment came in for some attention, its shares rising 1c to 448, seeming to shrug off its recent downward bent.

Pay television operator Sky Network TV was up 1c at 666, while its majority shareholder, Independent Newspapers Ltd (INL), was down 4c at 616.

In the energy sector, NGC Holdings was up 3c at 333, NZ Refining was up 65c at 3300.

NZX was up 5c at 795 after yesterday issuing a new price schedule, which included rises, rebates and extra services, for data distributors, market participants and listed issuers.

Among the 110 stocks traded this morning were 40 rises and 19 falls.

Other stocks on the move included: Air NZ up 1c at 141, Cabletalk up 3c at 55, Cavalier up 14c at 364, Feltex up 2c at 73, Nuplex up 5c at 370, Promina up 8c at 554, Steel & Tube up 5c at 420, and Waste Management down 7c at 598.

Mr Willis said the positive tone on NZX followed overnight gains in key United States indices.

- NZPA