NZ stocks: Overseas rally fails to rouse investors

New Zealand shares crept higher yesterday in line with an overseas rally, but brokers said the local reaction was more of a whisper than a roar.

The benchmark NZSE-40 index closed up 19.49 points, or 0.98 per cent, at 2006.67 after trading as high as 2016.51 earlier in the session.

"It was a bit of a nothing day in the end," said Forsyth Barr Frater Williams broker Alan Wills. "The market finished up about 1 per cent, but to be honest, it was a pretty meek sort of performance really and most stocks ended off their highs for the day.

"If you look around the region, all the other markets are doing better than we are."

Australian shares rallied almost 2 per cent in opening trade before easing back on the throttle, while Tokyo's Nikkei average rose 3 per cent in early trading after Wall St rallied and European shares posted their biggest one-day percentage gain in at least 15 years.

Turnover here was very slim, at just 24 million shares worth $47 million.

"There isn't a lot of participation in this market at the moment and that's why it's not reacting as strongly as you might have thought it would," Wills said.

Top stock Telecom put on a reasonably solid show, closing up 7c at $4.85 on shares worth $21.6 million, but that was still off its high for the day of $4.91.

Fletcher Building traded as high as $2.75 before closing flat at $2.70, Carter Holt Harvey also gave up early gains to end unchanged at $1.85, Auckland Airport was steady at $4.11 and Sky City added just 2c to $6.35.

Briscoe Group was up 2c at $2.32, Baycorp Advantage added 5c to $4.30, Contact Energy rose 2c to $3.84, and The Warehouse added 10c to $7.10.

Fisher & Paykel stocks were the stars of the session, with Healthcare adding 20c to $8.30 and Appliances up 10c at $8.80.

UnitedNetworks climbed 15c to $9.15 after Vector said it had applied for Commerce Commission approval to buy all or part of the electricity lines company.

On the downside, Tranz Rail slipped 5c to $2.10, Air New Zealand fell 1c to 64c after rival Qantas said it would increase its flights to New Zealand and Europe from October 27.

Rises outpaced falls by 73 to 15 among the 132 stocks traded.

- NZPA