NZ stocks: F&P Healthcare helps boost sharemarket

12.00pm

The sharemarket held firm in early trading this morning, led by a good showing from Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.

By 11.30 am the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 2.80 points to 2648.10, while the NZSX-All capital index rose 0.30 points to 894.02

Market leader Telecom was unchanged at 567.

F&P Healthcare was up 30c at 1310. ABN Amro's Matt Willis said there had been some merger and acquisition activity in the sector offshore, and given the company's presence in the US this could have helped push up the stock.

He added the recent pullback in the greenback/kiwi cross could also be benefitting export stocks like Healthcare.

"I think maybe that's starting to hit home with investors that exporters in the medium term should look to benefit from that rate having pulled back about 10 per cent," Mr Willis said.

Northland Port was up 5c at 285. This morning the company announced it has signed a conditional agreement to sell its Port of Whangarei land and facilities to an undisclosed buyer for around $13.15 million.

Electricity and gas distributor Powerco rose 6c to 208 after announcing a net profit of $55.143 million and a dividend of 8.8 cents per share for the year ended March.

Independent Newspapers Ltd (INL) was up 3c at 493, after paying out $340 million to shareholders. The now newspaper-less INL cancelled one in six shares, paying shareholders $4.66 for each one cancelled.

Ports of Lyttelton was up 1c at 164, despite threatened industrial action which could see workers walk off the job for up to six days from 11pm Thursday.

Other stocks on the move included The Warehouse up 5c at 445, Tenon down 1c at 193, Hallenstein Glasson up 5c at 310, NZX down 10c at 940, Sanford up 4c at 509, TrustPower up 2c at 415, GRD down 20c at 220, Ports of Auckland down 9c at 731, Restaurant Brands down 2c at 134 and Repco up 5c at 302.

Total turnover by 11.30am was worth $14.3 million. Of the 116 stocks traded there were 41 rises and 38 falls.

In the US the Dow Jones industrial average eased 28.11 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 10,444.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended off 5.12 points, or 0.45 per cent, at 1,135.48 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 13.00 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 2,036.77.

The FTSE 100 index closed 1.8 points up at 4,571.8, pulling back from a session peak of 4,586.9.

- NZPA