NZ stocks: Shares firm after Telecom result

The sharemarket started the day positively, mainly thanks to Telecom, although the market leader pulled back from strong early gains.

The market star was Auckland International Airport which took off 15c to a new all-time high of 473 after it announced it was considering repaying $212 million to shareholders.

It also posted an unaudited after tax surplus of $53.4 million for the nine months ending March 31 and said it was on track to meet full year forecasts.

Forsyth Barr Frater Williams executive director Don Turkington described Auckland Airport's performance as "phenomenal".

The NZSE-40 Capital Index was up 8.86 points at 2050.83 at 11.30am. Volume of $27 million was boosted by around $16 million of crossings from yesterday's activity.

A number of second line stocks recovered from what appeared to be programmed index-related selling yesterday.

Telecom Corp shares initially rose 8c to 496, shortly after it announced what brokers said was a solid third quarter result that was marked by a sharp improvement in Australian operations.

"The result on the face of it didn't look too bad and the market took off but it hasn't sustained the gains."

The company reported its underlying net profit in the March quarter rose 5 per cent to $168 million from $160 million in the same quarter a year ago.

"The result is certainly better than the market was looking for," Macquarie New Zealand senior investment analyst Arthur Lim said.

"The most significant aspect was the Australian operations seem to be coming through better than the commentators were expecting, especially those from Australia.

"The Australian operation has been the focus of attention, the focus of grief, whereas this result shows they are turning the corner." he said.

While the shares eased back to 492, Dr Turkington said he would not be surprised if they closed stronger.

Among the second liners to recover, The Warehouse was up 3c at 715, Fletcher Building, 3c to 273, Sky City, 6c to 606, Contact Energy, 2c to 400.

Baycorp Advantage continued to be savaged in the wake of news of increased competition in Australia from Dun and Bradstreet. It was down 8c to 420.

Another of this year's big losers, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, was down another 9c to 910. Hellaby was up 5c at 260 while UnitedNetworks was up 6c at 810, despite speculation its core shareholder was mulling quitting the stock.

DB was untraded after it posted a 4.4 per cent improvement in operating profit for the half year.

There were 29 rises and 25 falls among the 98 stocks traded.

- NZPA