NZ stocks: Fletcher Building the gem in NZX trading

6.00pm

A large spike in the price of Fletcher Building shares underpinned a day of firm trade in which the New Zealand Exchange made a mild gain, a broker said.

Fletcher Building shares were up 30c at 512, a rise of 6.2 per cent and their highest level since December 1997.

Investors were reacting to news the firm had realised a full-year net profit after tax of $240 million, up 43 per cent on last year's $168m.

It announced a fully imputed final dividend of 14c a share.

ASB Securities head of advisory Stephen Wright said Fletcher Building was undoubtedly the highlight of the day.

"It beat expectations and... the dividend, which makes for a total annual dividend of 25c was better than expectations," he told NZPA today.

"The outlook was pretty good. The result bodes well for Steel & Tube."

Steel & Tube shares were up 5c at 438.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 8.4 points at 2763.45, while the NZSX-All capital index was up 3.18 points at 930.44.

There were 57 rises and 39 falls among the 148 stocks traded.

Market turnover was $70.9m, including Telecom's $21.3m.

The telco's shares closed down 3c at 603.

"Nothing dramatic there. They're still the top volume as they are every other day," Mr Wright said, noting that the stock was very attractive to investors chasing yield.

The US Federal Reserve's move to bump its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.5 per cent had little effect on either major US bourses or NZX, Mr Wright said.

Meanwhile, shares in Repco Corp were up 4c at 301 after it reported a net profit of A$34.1m ($37.65m) before significant items in the June year, up from A$25m a year earlier.

"That's been pretty subdued since the time of its listing. Nothing much has happened there, but a good result," Mr Wright said.

Lyttelton Port said today it had stabilised its business while at the same time increasing its June year net profit to $12 million.

Shares in the port operator were unchanged at 172c.

Other stocks on the move included: AMP down 10c at 701, Auckland International Airport up 5c at 702, Cavalier up 4c at 490, Hellaby down 5c at 545, Michael Hill International up 12c at 630, Nuplex up 10c at 530, Ports of Auckland up 8c at 713, and Tower down 6c at 199.

- NZPA