NZ stocks: Market hits a high note on healthy volume

The New Zealand sharemarket ended positively today, with reasonable turnover topping $100 million.

The NZSX-50 gross index closed up 10.64 points, or 0.46 per cent, at a high of 2325.82, and the top-40 index was up 0.55 per cent at 2224.13.

Turnover of 44.41 million shares was valued at $104.19 million.

Barry Lindsay of First NZ Capital said the day was significantly busier than yesterday. Activity was dominated by Telecom, whose $51.6 million worth of shares accounted for about half the day's turnover.

"One can conclude that foreign investors have been active again in this stock."

Telecom, which announces its first quarter result tomorrow, closed up 7c at 495.

"We're expecting a pretty sound bottom line figure which we think will be about $167 million for the first quarter, about a 14 per cent increase. It should be reasonably well received," Mr Lindsay said.

Sky City lost some of its recent gains to close down 10c at 900, having been rewarded for its two-for-one share split announced last week.

Infrastructure investor Infratil was up 2c at 250, after announcing a 36 per cent drop in interim profit to $12.5 million yesterday.

Air New Zealand rose 1c to 49, Contact Energy gained 2c to 505, Trustpower was up 5c at 590, Fletcher Forests was up 1c at 132, Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 15c to 1500, F&P Healthcare rose 15c to 1195, and Tranz Rail gained 2c to 129 -- its highest point since February.

The Warehouse was up 1c at 573, Lion Nathan gained 10c to 650, and fellow brewer DB was up 5c at 770 after announcing an annual profit of $25.4 million, up from the previous year's $22.6 million profit.

Sky TV was up 11c at a high of 521, while suitor Independent Newspapers Ltd gained 1c to 481.

Rubicon was down 1c at 76 after the Court of Appeal overturned a ruling demanding that Perry Corp sell part of its nearly 20 per cent stake. Rubicon's 19.9 per cent owner Guinness Peat Group, which took the case against the New York-based investment company, closed up 1c at 186.

Powerco lost 1c to 187, Auckland Airport was down 6c at 6610, Baycorp Advantage shed 5c to 305, Restaurant Brands was down 1c at 133, ANZ shed 7c to 2020, and Wrightson Group lost 1c to 148.

There were 60 rises and 44 falls on the 147 stocks traded.

- NZPA