NZ stocks: Telecom leads market higher

12.00pm

A turnaround in the United States markets flowed through to New Zealand shares today, with Telecom leading the market north.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 capital index was up 11.11 points, or 0.56 per cent at 200.78, on light turnover of 6.57 million stocks valued at $18.43 million.

Alan Wills, of Forsyth Barr Frater Williams, said the New Zealand market was responding to good news Stateside, including a late announcement that software behemoth Microsoft had beaten market expectations with its first quarter profit.

"That's going to be very positive, so we're responding a bit -- not with great vigour but we're up, mostly Telecom (up 4c at 511)," Mr Wills said.

"The market's trading very quietly but it's certainly got a positive tone," he said.

"The other big news of the morning is that Powerco's priced the equity issue at 160 -- it's probably a little lower than the middle of the (expected) range."

Powerco has raised the $102 million it sought from institutions as part of a "jumbo" offer announced earlier this week, at 160 per share.

The remaining $48 million will be offered to retail investors. The company is raising capital to fund the purchase of some of UnitedNetworks' gas and electricity assets.

Powerco shares, which were halted on Monday at 181, lost 3c to 178 in late morning trade.

"It was a book-building exercise and that's obviously the level where they could get sufficient commitment to place the stock -- it's a balance based on demand at different levels of price," Mr Wills said.

"I think it's a very positive entry point for new investors."

Elsewhere on the market, Carter Holt Harvey was up 2c at 162, Auckland Airport rose 2c to 420, Air New Zealand was up 2c at 50, AMP gained 25c to 1460, Baycorp Advantage was up 5c at 320, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare gained 10c to 1010, Guinness Peat Group was up 2c at 151, and Sky TV gained 4c to 339.

Fletcher Forests preference shares lost 1c to 21, Restaurant Brands shed 9c at 163 after announcing yesterday its first half results were down 17.5 per cent, and Vending Technologies was down 9c at 180.

There were 41 rises and 20 falls on the 98 stocks traded.

On Wall St, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average rallied 238.86 points, or 2.97 per cent, to 8274.89; the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 39.79 points, or 3.23 per cent, to 1272.21; and the broad Standard and Poor's 500 Index climbed 19.17 points, or 2.23 per cent, to 879.19.

- NZPA