NZ stocks: Eighth consecutive day of gains

6.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket narrowly made it to its eighth consecutive closing high this afternoon after a slow start this morning.

The New Zealand Stock Exchange which announced today it has changed its name from NZSE Ltd to New Zealand Exchange Limited or NZX Ltd, will trade as NZX when it lists itself on its main board on Wednesday next week.

Its benchmark NZSE50 Gross Index is now to be known as the NZSX50. Today, the NZSX50 finished 0.11 percent or 2.297 points higher at 2087.06. The NZSE40 Capital Index rose 0.345 percent or 7.09 percent to 2060.77.

Turnover was a healthy $131.16 million on 39.8 million shares.

ABN Amro Craigs retail equities adviser Nigel Scott said the market was quite active today with "one or two crossings, and by the looks of it some MSCI buying".

The MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital Index) is one of the world's most widely tracked indices. It is used by offshore fund managers to balance their portfolios.

Mr Scott said some stocks showed signs of inclusion on the index.

"Clearly by the volume in NGC and Sky TV they are going in, and maybe one or two other stocks might be moving out."

Sky TV rose 12c to 470 on volume of 3.2 million shares, while NGC was down 1c to 167 turnover of 7 million shares, " with nearly all the shares crossed at 167 into the close".

Elsewhere, the market spotlight continued to be on Fisher & Paykel Appliances which yesterday announced a $73.5 million annual net profit for the March year, better than expectations of $70 million.

Today, the stock climbed 55c to finish at 1250.

"People are still looking at the yield," Mr Scott said.

A number of companies announced results today including Dorchester Pacific whose shares were up 2c to 157, Infratil which gained 3c to 205, Pacific Retail which rose 22c to 230 and Software of Excellence which picked up 5c to finish at 150.

Mr Scott said a "significant volume" of market heavyweight Telecom's shares change hands today. As usual the company topped the turnover table with 10 million shares worth $52.7 million changing hands.

Meanwhile, Warehouse shares fell 15c today to 430. The company announced the resignation of chief executive Greg Muir shortly after the end of trading today .

Rail operator Tranz Rail's shares dropped 4c to 84 following last night's news of Australian logistics company Toll Holding's takeover bid.

Stocks to rise today included: Air New Zealand up a cent to 47, BIL International up 2c to 76, Briscoe up a cent to 196, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 4c to 1104, Fletcher Building up a cent to 351, Guinness Peat Group up a cent to 146, Lion Nathan up 25c to 660, Ryman Healthcare up 3c to 189, Sky City up 10c to 845, Sky TV up 12c to 470, Steel & Tube up 5c to 350, Tourism Holdings up 4c to 104, and Tower up a cent to 151.

Among stocks to fall were:

AMP down 10c to 545, Auckland Airport down 2c to 548, Carter Holt Harvey down 2c to 158, Contact Energy down 6c to 465, Hellaby Holdings down 3c to 397, Independent News Ltd down 5c to 429, Owens Group down 2c to 93, Ports of Auckland down 5c to 690, Promina down 2c to 240, Sanford down 10c to 555, Waste Management down 5c to 333, and Vertex down 7c to 152.

In all, there were 52 rises and 37 falls on 132 stocks traded.

- NZPA