NZ stocks: Ex-dividend stocks provide main interest

Several stocks saw decent gains ahead of their dividend payments on an otherwise uneventful New Zealand sharemarket today.

The NZSE-40 capital index closed up 13.28 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 1970.69, and the top-10 index was up 0.78 per cent at 892.29.

Turnover of 19.11 million stocks, valued at $75.31 million, was topped by Telecom's 5.76 million shares worth $27.61 million.

Sam Macdonald of Direct Broking said several stocks about to pay a dividend shot up as shareholders piled in to reap the rewards.

Casino operator Sky City gained 15c to a fresh high of 785 ahead of its special dividend of 20 cents per share, which has a record date this Friday and is payable a week later on November 29.

That is in addition to the 38cps dividend paid for the 2002 financial year.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 29c at 1090 ahead of its 34cps dividend, including a 7cps special dividend, also payable on November 29.

"There was a bit of a lack of order flow (generally) today, a typical Monday," Mr Macdonald said.

"There was a bit of order flow in Telecom. It had a run through to 485 before sinking back again, but there seems to be a lot of consistent selling around, sellers coming out every day...not putting too much pressure on it but they are the presence of selling in Telecom."

Telecom closed up 1c at 478, while Australian telco Telstra was down 2c at 515.

Auckland International Airport rose a decent 13c to close at 547, after releasing positive earnings guidance for the first four months at its annual meeting today.

The airport company said at its AGM it was on path for a record profit, with revenue up 13 per cent at $74 million and the after-tax profit up 20.2 per cent at $25.3 million.

Tourism Holdings Ltd, owners of the Maui camper van business among other tourist-related operations, closed unchanged at an eight month high of 101.

"There appears to be a re-rating being done of that stock," Mr Macdonald said.

"They came out last week from their AGM and confirmed they expect first half net profit of $4 million, and the outlook is pretty positive ..."

Hard hit by a fall in tourism numbers, THL posted a net after-tax profit of $300,000 for the year to June 30, following a massive $13 million slump in profit the year before.

Elsewhere on the market, Contact Energy rose 2c to 380 before it announced it had applied for Commerce Commission clearance to buy Natural Gas Corp's power stations.

NGC is selling the stations, including a combined cycle gas turbine plant in Stratford, and the Cobb hydro power scheme near Nelson.

The Warehouse was down 2c at 730, Tranz Rail gained 5c to 130 after saying second quarter earnings were on target, Sky TV was up 14c at 354, Powerco lost 2c to 162, F&P Healthcare was up 7c at 1082, Fletcher Building lost 1c to 324, and AMP was up 30c at 1400 ahead of news its Standard and Poor's rating was on negative watch.

Cavalier Corp continued its fine form, rising 35c to a new record of 725, while Baycorp continued its partial rebound from this month's hammering, rising 12c to 223 on good volume.

Rises equalled falls at 43 among the 135 stocks traded.

- NZPA