NZ stocks: Market hits fresh highs as investors eye Telecom shares

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket hit fresh highs in morning trade as investors clamoured around bourse heavyweight Telecom, a broker said.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 10.67 points at 2519.86, its highest level since it began in March last year.

The NZSX-40 capital index was up 9.11 points at 2338.97, a level last seen in April 1998.

Market heavyweight Telecom featured heavily in trade, its $18.4 million turnover representing 59 per cent of the market's $31.3 million.

Telecom shares were up 3c at 566, their highest since June 2001.

Greenslades broker Paul Valk said investors were buying Telecom ahead of what was expected to be a rosy quarterly result, out next month.

There was also a "bit of (offshore) currency buying in Telecom at the moment, that's for sure", Mr Valk told NZPA today.

Last week there was a sell-off in Telecom shares as offshore investors booked profits when the New Zealand dollar pushed through the key US68c mark.

In other market news, Carter Holt Harvey shares continued their positive run and were up 4c at 208, their highest since June 2002.

Recent reports suggest the company is considering selling off its 330,000ha forestry estate.

"Obviously if that happened, then you could see, possibly, up to $1.6 billion left over in cash once they've paid $1.2 billion in debt," Mr Valk said.

"If they paid that out to shareholders, that's equivalent to $1.20 a share and that's being well looked at (by investors)."

Shares in discount retailer The Warehouse were down 4c at 524 as investors booked profits, Mr Valk said.

Meanwhile, shares on the move today included: AMP down 4c at 540, Auckland International Airport up 2c at 688, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 5c at 1250, Independent Newspapers Ltd up 7c at 510, Michael Hill International up 1c at 499, Sky City Leisure down 5c at 130, and TrustPower up 5c at 655.

Among the 114 stocks traded were 38 rises and 25 falls.

There was $29,800 worth of shares traded on the New Zealand Alternative Exchange this morning.

Overseas, the Dow Jones slid 71.70 points to 10,528.81, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.07 points at 1138.76, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 7.51 points to 2147.97.

- NZPA