NZ stocks: Port battle and AMP fail to drag market down

The New Zealand sharemarket held firm today despite major slumps in AMP and Ports of Auckland.

The NZSX-50 index ended up 9.39 points or nearly 0.4 per cent to 2396.62 on total turnover worth $128.6 million. The former benchmark NZSX-40 capital index gained 7.86 points or 0.35 per cent to 2225.55.

Nearly half the turnover was due to shareholder changes in Colonial First State Property Trust. Investors appeared to view the changes positively, as the stock rose 2c to 98c on turnover worth $69 million.

"Trading's very thin as we run into the holidays and things are getting distorted on light turnover," said First New Zealand Capital broker Philip Hardie Boys.

Today the major focus was on an 18.8 per cent dive in AMP's share price after it shed its British arm, and a 5.5 per cent slide by Ports of Auckland after it lost a major shipping contract to Port of Tauranga.

Ports of Auckland fell a whopping 45c to 760 on turnover worth $1 million, three times its normal turnover. Meanwhile, Port of Tauranga rose 17c or 4.19 per cent to 423.

Last night P and O Nedlloyd confirmed Tauranga had been chosen ahead of Auckland, as a port of call for its revamped express service direct to South-East Asia.

But Mr Hardie Boys believed the market had been too severe on Ports of Auckland, given the size of the lost revenue. "It's a pretty substantial company."

Troubled insurer AMP emerged from a trading halt to lose 47.5c to 540 after splitting from its struggling British unit HHG. Brokers said the share was a healthy increase on its A$4.30 ($4.98) bookbuild price.

However, it confirmed investors' low valuations for HHG which is now expected to trade below A$1.00 ($1.15) when it lists next week.

"It's a good outcome for those guys who got their hands on the stock at A$4.30 and the smart ones who decided to take their rights up," said BT Financial Group insurance analyst Andrew Waddington.

In other news, Restaurant Brands closed unchanged at 112. After the market closed, the company announced the appointment of acting chief executive Vicki Salmon as its new chief executive.

Telecom remained stuck in a tight trading range, up 6c at 514 on a moderate $22.3 million turnover. Investors appeared to ignore a ruling from the Commerce Commission today on the cost of Telecom's TSO (telecommunications service obligations).

The commission's final figure was $7.78 million a year lower than its draft estimate. The higher the TSO figure, the more money Telecom gets from its rivals to help pay for the cost of running the basic phone grid.

Other movers today included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 21c to 1240, 42 Below up 1c at 32, Genesis Research up 5c to 117, Fletcher Building up 9c to 414, Contact up 3c to 530, Sky City down 4c to 460, Trustpower up 10c to 620, South Port up 6c at 156, and The Warehouse down a cent at 509.

Rises outnumbered falls 49 to 44 on 133 stocks traded.

On Wall Street stocks closed barely changed, after the US dollar sank to another record low against the euro and rekindled fears that currency weakness would curb foreign investment in the United States.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 15 points at 10,144.75, the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed up 1.34 points at 1076.48, and the Nasdaq composite index ended down 3.26 points at 1921.03.

- NZPA