NZ stocks: Overseas decline ignored by buyers

The New Zealand sharemarket put in a strong performance yesterday in the face of the major overseas markets, which closed generally weaker overnight.

The NZSE-40 capital index closed down 5.37 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 2028.34 while the NZSE-SCI capital index shed 18.40 points to 5303.49.

In all, 47 million stocks traded hands valued at $74.4 million, topped by Telecom's $21.5 million.

Cameron Stewart of ABN Amro said Fletcher Challenge spin-off Rubicon, unchanged at 58c, was one of several stocks targeted by investors rearranging their portfolios for the end of the month.

"It was the last day of the month, just a few stocks pushed around at the close as people finalised their positions for the month.

"You just saw a continuation of selling, just weakness in the market. But it wasn't as weak as it could have been with the overseas markets quite weak, I think we saw a lot of blood let yesterday," he said.

"Stocks like Telecom, which fell straight through the $5.50 support, traded around the $5.45 level all day. No real news there, just a bit of selling coming in from one broker ... continuing there."

Telecom ended down 5c at $5.44, while Telstra shed 13c to $7.90.

Greg Muir, chief executive of The Warehouse, would have been pleased with its strong performance in the last few minutes - up 6c at $5.58 - and Tower was another one that was strong on the close - up 8c at $5.53.

Tower had to be careful if it wanted to raise capital if it followed plans to move its head office and primary listing to Australia.

Mr Stewart said: "If they get caught between the two exchanges, raising capital's going to be hard work. Nufarm is the classic example of that, where they've moved to Australia but they don't seem to have the backing they would probably like."

Meat exporter Richmond, caught in a looming bidding war between Britain's Bernard Matthews subsidiary Invercargill-based North Meats, and Dunedin rival PPCs, gained 25c to $3.10.

Richmond also said after the market closed on Wednesday that it expected a better than forecast full-year result, and had been ahead of budget in April and May.

INL gained 4c to $3.65, while Sky Network TV was down 11c at $3.38 after INL's purchase of a large parcel of Sky shares overnight on Tuesday. The company picked up 23.45 million shares, or 6 per cent, of Sky at $3.75 each, brokers said.

Elsewhere on the market, Air New Zealand A shares lost 1c to $1.05 and the B shares also lost 1c to $1.44 as speculation continued about Qantas' possible purchase of a controlling stake in the New Zealand carrier.

Contact Energy lost 2c to $2.82, Fletcher Building shed 2c to $2.33 and takeover target TrustPower lost 4c to $3.51, after reporting a 20.5 per cent fall in net profit to $23.49 million for the year ended March 31.

Christchurch-based PDL Holdings closed unchanged at $10.00 after announcing it was moving nearly a third of its electrical products manufacturing to Shenzen province, in southern China.

Fisher & Paykel continued its good run, climbing 15c to $9.50, Genesis rose 6c to $3.81, Lion Nathan 5c at $5.20 and Montana 2c to $4.82.

Tranz Rail was up 2c to $3.60, United Networks 5c to $8.45 and Wellington Drive Technologies 5c to 61c.

There were 61 falls and 37 rises among the 142 stocks traded.

- NZPA