NZ stocks: FCL Energy surges while Nat Mail dives

The New Zealand sharemarket was in a positive mood yesterday with healthy volumes and some big movements.

The NZSE-40 capital index closed up 13.08 points, or 0.66 per cent, at 1988.74.

Share turnover of 43.38 million was valued at $147.7 million, almost half of which was made up by Fletcher Energy ($69.34 million), followed by Telecom, at $20.1 million.

An analyst at Forsyth Barr said the market had been buoyant during the day. Some of the interest in Energy was likely to have been from overseas investors.

Fletcher Energy jumped 30c to $8.79 by the end of trade, 1c off its day high, on a strong performance from its US associate Capstone Turbine and an easing of the New Zealand dollar.

Capstone rose $US5.25 to $US31.12 on the Nasdaq overnight.

Telecom was up 3c at $5.68 after climbing 13c in the morning, underpinned by news that it will be included in all the Australian major indices in the New Year.

Telstra was up 10c at $8.30, Auckland Airport rose 11c to $3.20, NZ Refining gained 95c to $13.45 and Fletcher Forests rose 2c to 29c.

Montana gained 8c to $3.88, while Lion Nathan shed 4c to $5.26 after the release of an independent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers which valued Montana at between $4.16 and $4.64 a share.

Montana's independent directors advised shareholders not to sell at the price sought by rival bidders Lion Nathan and Masfen Holdings.

National Mail had a dizzying fall yesterday, down 32.8c to 10.2c, after announcing it will end deliveries on December 22 - just nine months after listing on the Stock Exchange at $1.33.

National Mail chairman Rick Flower said the company was taking prudent action "to minimise further erosion of shareholder funds."

Sky City was up 13c at $8.03 after announcing that it intends to increase its stake in Australian online betting company Canbet from 6.8 per cent to a third.

Air New Zealand B shares were up 7c at $2.32.

Dairy Brands was down 1c at 41c after announcing that it had sold two properties - Murrayfields in Culverden and Pukueri in North Otago - for $5.4 million. Dairy Brands will seek shareholder approval to sell its remaining 12 farms.

Restaurant Brands was down 1c at $1.32 after announcing that sales were up 12.1 per cent to $60.7 million in the 13 weeks to December 4.

AMP continued to strengthen, up 13c to $24.63, after reporting a healthy boost in quarterly cash flow on Monday.

- NZPA