NZ stocks: Stoic sharemarket withstands Warehouse selloff

A disappointing result from The Warehouse weighed on the sharemarket today but failed to drag the index down.

The NZSX-50 closed up 6.4 points or 0.278 per cent, to 2345.837, while the former benchmark index, the NZSE-40, closed up 4.869 points to 2234.16.

Trading was busy and largely leader driven, with a strong total turnover of $103 million.

Shares in The Warehouse initially dived more than 5 per cent or 29 cents today after the discount retailer revealed its troublesome Australian unit was unlikely to improve on last year's $13.4 million operating loss.

By market's close they had recovered somewhat to close at 530, 21c cents or 3.9 per cent lower on turnover worth $9 million.

"The Australian operation for the first three months of the financial year is trading below our expectation - as evidenced in the modest same stores sales increase of 1.1 per cent in the first quarter," chairman Keith Smith said.

Retail conditions were still supportive in both New Zealand and Australia but there were risks to this outlook such as the possibility of rising interest rates and the impact of the high dollar on the rural sector, he said.

Brokers said the market had been hoping for a "slightly more upbeat commentary".

"The question that must be weighing on investors' minds now is when will the turnaround occur," Direct Broking equities manager Brett Wilkinson said.

Brokers said corporate action and institutional buying had driven most of the volume today, bucking the usual pattern of quiet trading due to America's Thanksgiving holiday.

Heavyweight stock Telecom continue its steady growth, up 3c to 520 on $24.9 million worth of shares, and Carter Holt Harvey easing a cent to 177.

Fletcher Building fell 2c to 403, continuing a decline which began with yesterday's softening construction figures. Contact Energy rose 3c to 544, consolidating after pushing to a year high earlier this week.

Forestry and biotechnology stock Rubicon was 2c higher at 77. After the market closed, the company announced a 88.5 per cent fall in first half profit to $1.083 million, and no dividend.

An analyst said the market was probably unpeturbed because last year's H1 result was artificially boosted by a series of one-off gains.

Trading was halted in AMP shares this morning as AMP prepared to tell analysts about the planned listing of its British business HHG.

When trading resumed it closed here at 660, down 10c.

Trading was also halted for Turners Auctions, which topped turnover by volume at 5.2 million shares before announcing that 19.9 per cent shareholder Guinness Peat Group (GPG) was quitting its stake.

GPG, which fell 2c to 182, will sell its shares through an "accelerated book build offering". The placement made Turners, which last traded at $4.50, the most traded stock, with 5.2 million shares worth $22.7 million changing hands.

Shotover Jet rose 4c to 94 after South Island tribe Ngai Tahu sweetened its takeover bid to 90 cents per share from 71.25 cents. Ngai Tahu already owns 88.3 per cent of the company.

Shares in transport operator Owens Group were unchanged this morning at 108 after it posted an operating loss of $513,000 in the September half year.

The company - 80 per cent owned by Mainfreight and 12 per cent owned by Toll Holdings - today reported a net profit of $7.0 million compared with $0.5 million a year earlier but that came about through abnormal gains (including tax) of $7.5 million.

Other stocks to do well included Independent News Ltd, up 12c to 503 on solid turnover of $3.4 million, and Sky City up 3c to 456 on $3.3 million.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 15c to 1215, as did Ports of Auckland to 815.
Rises outnumbered falls 54 to 46 on 140 stocks traded.

- NZPA