NZ stocks: Fletcher Energy dips as dollar spikes

The sharemarket had a quiet start to the week following jitters in the United States last week, with a spike in the kiwi above 42USc and DB Group's restructuring providing the only interest.

"Overall the market was a bit quieter than usual," Richard Burton of Cavill White Securities said.

"Subdued trading in America and offshore markets had an impact."

The benchmark NZSE-40 capital index closed down 7.88 points at 1931.01, on total turnover of 96.78 million shares valued at $117 million.

DB Group, which closed at $4 on Friday, cancelled half its shares and repaid shareholders $3 a share. DB lost $2.80 to $5.20 as a result of its reconstruction, but was effectively up 10c after including the $3 cash payment.

Currency was also a factor in the day's trade. The New Zealand dollar topped 42USc yesterday afternoon, causing Fletcher Energy to lose 10c to $8.45. A firming kiwi versus the US dollar weakens the translation value of its sale package from Shell.

SkyTV gained 2c to $2.66 as a result of the kiwi's rally.

Mr Burton said that long-term an improvement in the New Zealand dollar could offer a helping hand to the local sharemarket.

"With the firming up of our currency above 42c, hopefully we might see a bit more flow in or not so much flow out," he said.

Fletcher Forests rights topped the NZSE40's list of 10 by turnover, with 54.3 million rights and 16.23 million head shares changing hands.

A number of stocks went ex-dividend yesterday, including Telecom, which paid a first-quarter dividend of 5cps. Telecom ended the day down 12c at $5.52.

Other stocks to go ex-dividend were Cavalier Corp (6c), Northland Port (4c), Scott Technology (6.5c), and Kiwi Income Property Trust (4.65c).

Montana lost 10c to $3.80 after 20 per cent owner and chairman Peter Masfen said he might seek a further 30 per cent at between $3.20 and $3.80 a share. Lion, with 28.2 per cent, is also mulling whether to bid for the rest of Montana in the same price range as Mr Masfen is offering. Lion Nathan gained 15c to $5.45.

Shares of New Plymouth-based electricity networks company Powerco opened at $1.30 on its first day of trade on the main board, ending the day effectively up 11c at $1.31. Powerco is picked to be one of the top 40 companies on the NZSE by market capitalisation.

Baycorp shed 5c to $10.95, Genesisfell 15c to $6.85 and Tower lost 12c to $4.82. Food manufacturer Cedenco was up 6c to $1.39 after its announcement on Friday of a $2.4 million profit for the year to September, up 9 per cent from $2.2 million last year.

Among the other gainers, Advantage Group was up 3c at $1.35, Air NZ B shares were up 5c at $1.90, Carter Holt rose 2c to $1.76, Contact Energy rose 2c to $2.85 and UnitedNetworks was up 5c at $7.85.

In the US the tech-rich Nasdaq index plunged 8.92 per cent for the week to close on Friday at 2645.29, having slid almost 50 per cent from its peak in March. The brutal Wall St selloff ended the worst November for the "new-economy" index since 1987.

- NZPA