NZ stocks: Carter Holt active as index edges higher

Carter Holt Harvey attracted some interest on an otherwise featureless sharemarket yesterday, with almost nine million shares in the number two stock traded.

Carter Holt closed 5c lower at 165 on turnover of 8.83 million shares worth $14.6 million.

ABN Amro Equities institutional sales head Nigel Scott said there were two large crossings - one for five million shares and the other two million - at 165 a share.

By comparison, market giant Telecom traded only 2.7 million shares - worth a total of $16.3 million - to close 4c stronger at 602.

"There are continued efforts both ways in Telecom. Globally, telcos picked up last night," Mr Scott said.

The NZSE-40 Capital Index rose 3.18 points (0.16 per cent) to 1990.16, but the NZSE SCI Capital Index of smaller stocks closed 13.17 points (0.25 per cent) lower at 5241.46 .

Turnover totalled $74.15 million, with falls outnumbering rises 53 to 52 among the 141 stocks traded.

"It was a relatively featureless day - the market had only moderate flows," Mr Scott said. "But there was a little bit of interest in energy utility stocks."

Natural Gas Corp rose 5c to 150 while Contact was 4c higher at 261.

However, Fletcher Energy fell 20c to 890 after world oil prices and the share price of its California-based Capstone investment dropped, Mr Scott said.

The pending Commerce Commission decision on whether Royal Dutch Shell could take over Fletcher Energy was due next Friday, and some significant price movements in Energy could be expected before then, he said.

Fletcher Building rose 4c to 245 while Forests was 1c higher at 81.

Elsewhere on the market, The Warehouse and Baycorp rallied 15c to 585 and $10.95 respectively, while GDC fell 15c to 380.

Mr Scott said interest in Montana was continuing, up 5c at 315, while Lion Nathan gained 2c to 484.

Also on the upside, new listing Genesis was up 3c at 700 while Frucor rose 2c to 227.

Fisher and Paykel and Advantage gained 5c to 715 and 198 respectively, although INL lost 5c to close at 354 and INL's investment Sky TV lost 1c to 338.

Auckland Airport dropped 4c to 270, while Air NZ As fell 2c to 180, but the Bs gained 7c to 265.

- NZPA