NZ stocks: Fletcher Building stars as market regains ground

12.00pm

Fletcher Building starred as the sharemarket regained yesterday's lost ground this morning, following another strong session on Wall Street.

The barometer NZSE-40 Capital Index was up 11.63 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 2012.74 on turnover worth $38.5 million by about 11.30am.

In the United States, stocks jumped on Monday, driving the market higher for seventh time in eight sessions.

Direct Broking equities manager Brett Wilkinson said Telecom, up one cent to 516, dominated volume with turnover worth $23.5 million.

However, it was Fletcher Building which stood out, rising 12c to 316 following a 10c rise yesterday.

Mr Wilkinson said Building was up on the back of positive analysis of its $761 million purchase of Australian building products firm The Laminex Group last month. The company had been conducting a roadshow which had gone down well in Australia.

Carter Holt Harvey was up 5c to 166 on the back of Building.

The Fisher and Paykel twins were both up ahead of their result on November 7 and in line with the strong performance of the biotech sector on the Dow.

Appliances was up 45 cents to 1070, while Healthcare rose 40 cents to 1070.

GPG, which has lost 20 cents over the past month, rose three cents to 155. Mr Wilkinson said the large seller of the past week appeared to have quit.

Auckland Airport continued to perform well following its capital restructuring, up 6c to 522.

Ports of Auckland was up 5c to 615, on positive sentiment spilling over from its annual meeting yesterday. Rival Port of Tauranga was up 2c, to 810

National rail operator Tranz Rail rose 3c to 156 after its profit announcement and investors look forward to better results coming out of the troubled company, Mr Wilkinson said.

The Warehouse was up 7c to 717, Westfield fell 10c to 386 and Westpac NZ was up 10c to 1465.

There were 35 rises and 35 falls on 109 stocks traded so far.

Wall Street applauded the latest batch of quarterly earnings by companies and was soothed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell's suggestion of a compromise resolution on Iraq to be introduced to the United Nations Security Council this week.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial average rocketed 214.46 points, or 2.58 per cent, to 8536.86, while the tech-loaded Nasdaq Composite jumped 21.79 points, or 1.69 per cent, to 1309.65. The broad Standard and Poor's 500 advanced 15.33 points, or 1.73 per cent, at 899.72.

- NZPA