NZ stocks: Telecom, F&P lead 2pc surge

The sharemarket was in busy mode yesterday as it picked up its tools after closing for Queen's Birthday Weekend.

The NZSE-40 capital index closed up 43.04 points, or 2.13 per cent, at 2065.86 while the small companies' NZSE-SCI capital index gained 35.76 points to 5370.18.

Turnover of 47.79 million, valued at $124.87 million, was topped by Telecom's 12.64 million stocks valued at $71.38 million.

Campbell Stuart of UBS Warburg said the market had been playing catch-up after the long weekend.

"It was an extremely busy day ... in particular Telecom after their retracement last week found some favour and had a very good bounce, which was encouraging," Mr Stuart said.

Telecom closed up 26c at $5.72, while fellow telco Telstra was up 15c at $8.10.

"The other standout was Fisher and Paykel before its results [today]. It had a very hot day in the market, going as high as $10.15 for a moment, which was a fantastic move on the day." F&P is expected to report a flat, $54 million pre-abnormals profit for the March year today, which the market is likely to forgive if more details are forthcoming on the proposed split between the whiteware and healthcare divisions.

The separation is expected later this year, if it receives shareholder approval. F&P closed up 41c at $9.95.

Carter Holt Harvey was another good riser, gaining 9c to $1.84.

"That was one of the stocks that had a fabulous day, having last week been sold down to the low 170s," Mr Stuart said.

"It was a very strong day across the board, it looked like there were re-indexing orders across the market, some good volumes in lots of stocks," he said.

Elsewhere on the market, Air New Zealand domestically held A shares rose 7c to $1.09 and the Bs were up 2c at $1.46, Fletcher Forests gained 2c to 32c, andFletcher Building was up 4c at $2.35.

Winemaker Montana gained 9c to $4.90 after the Stock Exchange's Market Surveillance Panel said before the market closed that Lion Nathan had breached the exchange's rules when it bought a parcel of Montana shares earlier this year. Lion shares also reacted, jettisoning 20c to close at $5.00.

Ports of Auckland was up 7c at $5.80, The Warehouse jumped 12c to $5.82, and casino operator Sky City rocketed 18c to $9.98.

Meat exporter Richmond fell 15c to $3.00. After the market closed, rival bidder PPCS raised its offer price for Richmond to between $3.10 and $3.65 a share, as opposed to the earlier $2.70 to $3.24 range.

Second suitor Bernard Matthews, which can begin buying a stake in Richmond today, was also expected to match the new range.

Software for Excellence lost 17c to $1.43 after announcing a better than forecast $697,000 loss for the year.

- NZPA