NZ stocks: Late boost after focus on Bendon

Some portfolio buying helped the sharemarket pick up in late trading yesterday after it spent most of the day in the negative.

The NZSE-40 capital index finished 1.80 points up at 2097.07, the top 10 index gained just 0.17 to 945.38 and the small stocks index rose 10.49 to 5824.09.

Volume worth $79.2 million was an improvement on most trading days so far this year, boosted by the sale of 15.5 per cent of Bendon to Pacific Retail.

The $9.7 million sale, at $2 a share, to a company within the Eric Watson stable surprised most brokers.

Bendon closed 7c up at $1.92 and Pacific Retail, which operates the Bond & Bond and Noel Leeming chains, was 5c down at $2.10.

Telecom still dominated the volume at 5.8 million shares worth $30.4 million. The market leader drifted to close 3c down at $5.25.

No 2 stock Carter Holt Harvey was also down 3c to $1.75.

Restaurant Brands rose 6c to $1.94 after it reported a net profit of $12.2 million.

Auckland Airport was well sought on volume worth $3.7 million, rising 10c to $3.85. Lion Nathan had an 8c rise to $5.80 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was also in demand, rising 10c to $16.60.

Sky TV was another chased by portfolio investors, rising 12c to $4.17, and its majority owner, Independent Newspapers, closed 3c up at $3.75.

GPG closed 2c up at $1.73, continuing a steady climb from $1.46 on September 17.

Another good performer this year, Waste Management, rose 7c to $3.15. Baycorp Advantage was up 5c to $7.45.

But Frucor fell as pessimism about Danone's $2.35-a-share bid increased. The bid is due to close on Friday. Frucor finished 6c down at $2.25.

Contact Energy, possibly responding to weak wholesale electricity prices, fell 2c to $3.88.

Force Corp, which said it was talking to its bankers and the underwriter of its impending rights issue, dropped half a cent to 3.9c.

Snacks maker Goodman Fielder said it was determined to carry out a $A100 million ($122.4 million) share buyback with or without the $A310 million sale proceeds of its Leiner Davis gelatin unit. It fell 8c to $1.78.

Other movers included Northport, up 15c to $2.40, Dairy Brands, up 4c to 69c, AMP, up 10c to $23.10, Tourism Holdings, up 4c to $1.29 and Williams & Kettle, down 22c to $4.30.

There were 40 rises and 51 falls.

- NZPA