NZ stocks: Shares boosted by US markets, Telecom result

12.00pm

New Zealand shares got another offshore shot of confidence this morning, after the Dow Jones rose 3 per cent.

At 11.30am the NZSE-40 capital index was 20.86 points, or 1.04 per cent, higher at 2027.97, albeit on low turnover of $16 million.

Prices were up across the board, but Telecom and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare stole the limelight as both companies released results which the market took positively.

Telecom issued an annual result which showed pre-abnormal earnings of $670 million, up 9.1 per cent on a year ago.

Telecom's share price jumped 9c to 496 on turnover of just under a million shares worth $4.8 million.

The biggest abnormal was a $850 million write-down in Australian subsidiary AAPT but this was at the lower end of market expectations, and brokers said the widely anticipated move was already priced in.

"The Telecom result takes some time to digest," said JB Were broker Peter Stokes, "so I've only got a headline feel for it but by and large the numbers coming through the Australian operations look reasonably healthy".

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare jumped 15c to 925, helping its sister company and 20 per cent shareholder, F&P Appliances, up 16c to 921. The healthcare unit, which was heavily battered down after not meeting initial expectations, announced first quarter earnings to June 30 of $30.43 million, more than double that at the same time a year ago. The result was inflated by forex gains of $17.5 million.

Among the other leading stocks, Contact Energy eased a cent to 394 after surging 10c yesterday, Sky City was 2c higher at 649, Carter Holt Harvey added 2c to 181, Auckland Airport was up 4c at 423, Baycorp Advantage rose 3c to 415 and Fletcher Building climbed 4c to 284.

Retail stocks also began feeling the benefits of robust retail data this week. The Warehouse was up 9c to 734 after reporting positive fourth quarter sales figures on Wednesday when the stock jumped 17c. Fellow retailer Briscoe Group was up 10c to a new high of 255.

Rises outnumbered falls by 44 to 10 among 95 stocks traded.

On Wall St, markets bounced for a third day after news that a massive bailout of debt-ridden Brazil helped stocks like Citibank.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 255.87 points, or 3.03 per cent, to 8712.02. The technology-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 35.62 points, or 2.78 per cent, to 1316.52, and the broad Standard and Poor's 500 Index was up 28.69 points, or 3.27 per cent, at 905.46.

"People are sensing we're close to a bottom after having had some sharp rallies," said Matt Holscher, head of Nasdaq trading for WR Hambrecht and Co.

"The first phase was short-covering. Now people are dipping their toes in the water and thinking it might be a decent time to get involved."

The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have risen about 8.3 per cent, 8.5 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively, over the last three days. Year-to-date, though, the Dow has dropped 13.1 per cent, the S&P 500 has declined 21.1 per cent and the Nasdaq has lost almost one-third of its value, off 32.5 per cent.

- NZPA