NZ stocks: F&P the star of buoyant market

The sharemarket's barometer index gained 0.84 per cent to 2083.22 yesterday, to give it a 3 per cent boost over the two trading days so far of the shortened week.

The market got a good lead from Wall St, where a technology-led rally was sparked by Lucent Technologies.

Star local performer was Fisher & Paykel, which spun to new heights after reporting a better than expected operating result.

It rose 50c to $10.45, to add to its 41c, or 4.3 per cent, gain on Tuesday. The appliance and healthcare company posted a $60.3 million March year operating profit, exceeding forecasts of $55 million.

The company's result was affected by $73 million in unusual items which dropped the bottom line to $11.04 million. But investors shrugged off the foreign exchange losses.

F&P managing director Gary Paykel said he was limited in what he could say about the division of the company into two, but the current year had begun well.

JB Were's head of private stockbroking, John Cobb, said: "It was a good result once you strip out the unusual items. The operating result looked healthy."

Mr Cobb said that it looked as if foreign buying related to the Morgan Stanley Capital Index had pushed up Telecom, Carter Holt Harvey, Fletcher Building, Baycorp and The Warehouse.

Telecom closed 4c up at $5.76 to add to Tuesday's 26c gain and Carter Holt continued its good form, rising 2c to $1.86.

The Warehouse gained 13c to $5.95 and Baycorp 42c to $12.12. Both are recent additions to the MSCI.

Fletcher Building rose 3c to $2.38 on solid turnover of 14.9 million Rubicon shares worth $8.7 million. The stock gained 1c to 58c.

AMP rose 74c to $25.50 mainly because of a strong Axa result. Axa rose 2c to $3.52.

Air New Zealand failed to respond to news that a group of New Zealand investors and institutions are apparently interested in Brierley's 30 per cent holding. The restricted A shares were unchanged on $1.09 and the Bs on $1.46.

Richmond gained 18c to $3.18 as two suitors, or possibly three, vie for control.

Activity in Montana was subdued. It fell 4c to $4.86 on volume of 34,000 and Lion Nathan dropped 10c to $4.90.

Brokers said there was a growing feeling that Lion would be forced to sell more than the 10 per cent of shares in Montana it was deemed to have bought outside the listing rules. Some brokers believe it will have to sell back to the 28 per cent holding it held before it made the raid in default of the rules.

Wilson & Horton, which held its annual meeting in Auckland yesterday, saw its exchangeables rise 40c to $10.50.

Good rises were posted by fishing company Sanford, 15c to $6.35, UnitedNetworks, 15c to $8.50, Ebos, 8c to $2.53, Genesis, 7c to $3.87 and NZ Refining, 85c to $17.20.

Vending Technology stood out among the falling stocks, down 20c to $3.00.

- NZPA