NZ stocks: Shares get shot in arm from Wall Street

12.00pm

New Zealand shares gained more than a per cent this morning as positive sentiment from Wall Street rubbed off on the local market.

The benchmark NZSE-40 Capital Index jumped 24.69 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 2091.96 by 11am. Turnover was light, even for a Monday, at just $15 million.

"The market has clearly responded to the kick (in US markets) on Friday night," ABN Amro retail equities adviser Nigel Scott said.

Wall Street stocks bounced back with a bang in post-holiday trade on Friday, with the blue-chip Dow index posting its biggest percentage gain in more than nine months on relief that the July 4 holiday brought no terror attacks as feared.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 324.53 points, or 3.58 per cent, to 9379.50, ending a six-week losing streak. That was the gauge's biggest percentage gain since September 24 when it rose 4.5 per cent after a week of panic selling following the September 11 attacks.

The tech-laced Nasdaq Composite Index surged 68.21 points, or 4.94 per cent, to 1448.38, while the broad Standard and Poor's 500 surged 35.04 points, 3.67 per cent, to 989.03.

Here, rises outnumbered falls by 47 to 17 among the 104 stocks traded so far.

Telecom led the pack with an 11c gain to 515 on shares worth $7.6 million.

Among the other leaders Auckland Airport added 3c to 430, Baycorp Advantage was up 9c at 405, Carter Holt Harvey bounced 3c to 198, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was 10c higher at 805 while its Appliance cousin added 8c to 895, Contact Energy rose 5c to 400, Ports of Auckland was up 10c at 650, Sky City climbed 4c to 634, Sky TV was up 9c at 439 and Fletcher Building added 2c to 275.

The Warehouse was 5c higher at 755 after saying it was unfazed by speculation that United States retail giant Wal-Mart could break into the Australian market by buying into Coles Myer.

The Warehouse managing director Greg Muir said plans for Wal-Mart to buy into Coles were just idle speculation. The Warehouse Australia was still a tiny part of the Australian discount store market and "even if they did buy it, we don't really see it as that big a deal for us".

The Warehouse has 118 stores in Australia.

Air New Zealand added a cent to 66c after brokerage UBS Warburg released a bullish profit forecast for the national carrier.

UBS Warburg's Timothy Ross said the airline, which only six months ago was on the brink of collapse before a government bailout, could make a profit of $239 million in the year to June 30, 2003.

He expected the airline to surge into the black more strongly than expected on the back of a higher dollar, lower fuel prices and higher demand for travel.

On the downside, Tranz Rail shed 18c to 257 -- its lowest level since September 1998 -- after revealing on Friday that its fourth quarter profit is likely to be well below market expectations.

Responding to a Stock Exchange query about a big fall in Tranz Rail's share price since June 20, the company said it expected to make substantial asset writedowns in the 2001/02 year -- which would bite into its fourth quarter result.

The company intends to make an announcement regarding its expectations for the 2002/03 year within the next month.

- NZPA