NZ stocks: Telecom, Carter Holt lead market higher

12.00pm

The sharemarket was led up by market heavyweights, Telecom and Carter Holt Harvey, today.

The tone was set by Wall Street which snapped back from a dismal losing streak in eight of the last 10 days.

Reports showing growing manufacturing activity and resilient US consumer confidence revived hopes of an economic turnaround after a long string of selloffs. The Dow Jones industrial average rallied 126.35 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 9946.22, while the technology-loaded Nasdaq Composite Index rose 31.30 points, or 1.89 per cent, to 1,688.23.

The NZSE-40 capital index was up 9.741 points to 2054.39 at 11.30am on light turnover of just $15 million.

Telecom was up 5c to 487 and Carter Holt Harvey was up 5c to 185 accounting for most of the index's gain.

Hot stock, Air New Zealand, retreated 1c to 48 following its 36 per cent gain this week.

JB Were senior investment adviser Peter Stokes said that despite the company saying it had sharply reversed its profitability for the better in the past quarter, it was not yet out of the woods.

He doubted news that a new budget airline Zoom owned by failed Christchurch mayoral candidate Robin McCathy was planning to take-off had caused the fall.

Mr Stokes expects Air New Zealand to ease back further.

"It's way, way too early to get excited about any new outlook for Air New Zealand. It's a competitive environment and we are uncertain how the competition will look. There's a likely capital raising as well.

"All these things will weight on the mind of investors and the market as a whole. I think it got too heated," he said.

Baycorp Advantage, which has been savaged this year, rose 14 cents to 490. It announced yesterday its Asian unit had taken a major leap when the Association of Banks in Singapore had set up a consumer credit bureau, 37.5 per cent owned by Baycorp.

Another stock to have taken a beaten, Advantage Corp, was up 3c to 39. Late yesterday, a family trust of Nick Gordon, a director and one of the company's founders, bought 11.5 million shares in the company controlled by a company controlled by entrepreneur Eric Watson. Mr Gordon's stake rises from 2 to 16 per cent.

Ports of Auckland, which got sold down on a small parcel at yesterday's close, rebounded 4c to 624.

Contact Energy, expected to post a solid $33 million to $37 million first-half profit on Thursday, was up 1c to 404.

Both Contact and Carter Holt may have benefited from the Government's announcement on the Kyoto protocols on greenhouse gas yesterday. Although a carbon tax will be introduced in 2007, the provisions were milder than had been feared by business.

But NZ Refining fell 6c to 1694. The Government's policies could cost the Marsden Point Oil Refinery $25 million a year in carbon tax. A tax of $25 for each tonne of carbon emitted would be imposed.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to 940 while its sister Appliances company fell 5c to 955.

There were 35 rising stocks and 25 falling stocks among the 106 stocks traded.

- NZPA