NZ stocks: Market finishes on a positive note, hits new 5yr high

6.30pm

The New Zealand sharemarket finished today's trading session on a five-year high, building on the upbeat end to last week here and overseas.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 was up 9.04 points at 2302.21, while the NZSX-40 capital index was up 6.57 points at 2205.26.

Market heavyweight Telecom ran against the market's positive trend, its stocks finishing down 1c at 506, having traded $24.2 million worth on turnover of 4.8 million.

On the New Zealand Exchange today, there were $62.3 million worth of shares traded on volume of 28.4 million. Among the 143 stocks traded were 64 rises and 36 falls.

ABN Amro Craigs operator Matt Willis said trading had been relatively quiet on the market today despite the NZSX-50 reaching a new five-year high.

"I think we've got a bit of a liquidity squeeze on the market at the moment," he told NZPA today.

"The momentum is certainly on the buyers' side and the market is continuing its positive trend on that basis.

"Net buying is driving direction at the moment," he said, adding that a liquidity squeeze meant there was an excess of demand over supply.

"The trend of the market is upwards and that's not unusual for a day like this," he said.

Shares in newly listed courier company Freightways lost some ground after last week's $141.5 million initial public offering (IPO), finishing down 3c at 180.

Freightways shares today closed 12.5 per cent over the IPO price of 160.

"I think it's been a great success," Mr Willis said.

Takeover target Owens finished unchanged on 107 while suitor Mainfreight was up 2c at 147.

Carter Holt Harvey shares finished up 5c at 179, having traded $6.1 million worth on volume of 3.4 million.

In other market news, stocks that went ex-dividend today were Cavalier Corp at 13 cents per share (cps), Ebos 9.4cps, Port of Tauranga 12cps, Southport 4cps and Tourism Holdings Ltd 4cps.

Shares on the rise included: Infratil up 1c to 226, Michael Hill International up 6c at 441, Nuplex up 15c at 425, Tranz Rail up 1c at 109, Baycorp Advantage up 2c at 260, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 5c at 1485, Independent Newspapers up 2c at 460, Steel & Tube up 4c at 369, The Warehouse up 13c at 598, and Wrightson up 6c at 155.

Shares on the slide included: Auckland International Airport down 4c at 647, AMP down 10c at 755, Cavalier Corporation down 5c at 540, Hellaby down 14c at 496, Sky TV down 8c at 490, Contact Energy down 2c at 510, Lion Nathan down 2c at 613, and Tourism Holdings down 2c at 155,

Overseas, in New York, stocks surged on Friday, racking up a third straight day of gains.

The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 44.35 points to 1880.57, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 9.61 points to 1029.85, and the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average rallied 84.51 points to 9572.31.

In London, top shares raced higher with the FTSE 100 benchmark index closing up 64.9 points at 4,274.

- NZPA