NZ stocks: Market turnover boosted by NGC stake sale

The sale of a stake in gas network company NGC boosted turnover by $82 million on an otherwise uneventful day.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index closed down 1.72 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 2206.69, while the top-40 index was down 0.04 per cent at 2126.13.

Turnover of 79.93 million stocks valued at $152.17 million was boosted by Hutt Mana Energy Trust's sale of its 6.65 per cent stake in gas network company NGC Holdings .

NGC's turnover of 52.36 million stocks was worth $82.76 million, followed by Telecom's $14.59 million turnover.

The trust sold the 51.5 million NGC shares at 158 each, compared with the 169c price the stock closed at yesterday. NGC shares closed down 5c at 164.

Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said another highlight was the listing today of clothing retailer Postie Plus, which closed at 125, above its 100 listing price but below the launching price of 137.

About 12 per cent, or 2.46 million, of the 20 million shares were traded today.

Telecom rose 1c to 494, The Warehouse rose 8c to 520 ahead of its annual result on Friday, and Baycorp Advantage continued recovering in Australia and New Zealand after its loss announced last week, closing up 7c at 244.

Among the financial services stocks, AMP retreated 35c to 740, Tower gained 2c to 126, and Westpac was up 30c to 1655.

Australian telco Telstra was up 5c at 575, Air New Zealand rose 2c to 55, and Auckland International Airport was up 10c at a fresh high of 645.

Independent Newspapers Ltd shares rose 4c to a nearly 2-1/2 year high of 441 following last week's decision to bid for the remaining third of Sky TV it does not already own.

"People are already selling their Sky shares and buying INL, or buying more INL, because under the terms of the takeover if you've got Sky shares your interest is diluted," Mr Wright said.

"You get three for 10 shares and a certain amount of cash, and therefore you've got three shares when you originally had 10 shares in a much bigger company."

Sky TV shares were down 1c at 472, while shares in casino operator Sky City were down 1c at 894, Tranz Rail shares lost 1c to 97, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare were down 7c at 1218, Contact Energy lost 5c to 485, Carter Holt Harvey shed 2c to 170, and Briscoe Group lost 3c to 180.

There were 55 falls and 41 rises on the 140 stocks traded.

- NZPA