NZ stocks: Leading stocks gain despite Telecom dip

The stockmarket closed slightly up yesterday, despite Telecom shares being sold off after the announcement of a weak GDP figure.

Market giant Telecom traded as high as 612 during the morning but dropped to 609 after the GDP figure was announced. It ended the day 2c down at 612. "Telecom got sold off not long after the GDP figure came out," ABN Amro Equities institutional sales head Nigel Scott said.

But the NZSE-40 Capital Index rose 6.50 points (0.32 per cent) to 2009.58, and the NZSE SCI index of smaller stocks was up 27.37 points (0.52 per cent) at 5272.98.

Rises outnumbered falls 69 to 34, and turnover totalled $91.7 million. Mr Scott said that between $20 and $30 million of that total was the result of end-of-the-month trading.

The market leaders were a mixed bunch, he said. Joining Telecom on the negative side of the ledger, Contact was down 1c at 262. Fletcher Energy lost 10c to 870, Building fell 1c to 246 but Forests rose 1c to 81.

The Warehouse lost 14c to close at 585, but Mr Scott said such swings were not unusual in the stock and nothing could be read into yesterday's fall.

Top 10 stocks to rise included Fisher and Paykel, up 6c to 730, and Auckland Airport, INL and Tower all up 5c to 269, 355 and 510 respectively. Air NZ B shares rose 9c to 284, taking its gains for the month to 38c. Its A shares were up 5c to 188.

Baycorp jumped 21c to $11.90, Axa gained 15c to 350 and new listing Genesis was up 5c at 705.

South Port - which on Thursday posted a $1.96 million after-tax profit for the year to June, up from a $945,000 deficit last year - gained 10c to 120.

A good result on Thursday also boosted the share price of Nufarm, formerly Fernz, which closed 25c up at 395. The company had a 6.6 per cent increase in net profit for the year to July of $A56.19 million.

Hallenstein Glasson was unchanged at 220c. The clothing retailer posted an $11.3 million profit for the year to August, up 14 per cent on last year.

- NZPA