NZ stocks: Telecom lifts index as buyers move in

The New Zealand sharemarket jumped nearly 1 per cent yesterday, helped up by a volatile Telecom.

Telecom has been yo-yoing since the start of the year, beginning at $5 and trading as high as $5.49.

Yesterday its shareprice soared 2.25 per cent, up 12c to $5.41 on turnover worth $14.8 million, a fifth of the total turnover.

All up, a moderate $66.3 million of shares changed hands, pushing the NZSE-40 capital index up 17.84 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 2119.35.

Scott St John, a director with Credit Suisse First Boston, said the overall market did well, fuelled by growing local demand and signs of increasing overseas interest.

"We saw a continuation of the trend of buying interest outweighing selling interest."

New Zealand's biggest companies did particularly well from the trend, with the Top 10 index rising 10.87 points, or 1.14 per cent, to 961.33.

Forestry giant Carter Holt Harvey continued to respond positively to its fourth quarter results two days ago, up 2c to $1.90 today. The stock has risen 15c since Tuesday, when the company announced a better-than-expected profit of $25 million for the December quarter.

Auckland Airport was unchanged at $3.92 despite turnover of $7.1 million worth of shares.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare clawed back some of Wednesday's losses prompted by news of increased competition in the international healthcare market. It ended 5c up at $16, while its sister company and substantial shareholder F&P Appliances recovered 10c to $10.30.

Retailer Briscoe touched a fresh high of 174 but eased to a steady 169 by day's end.

The Stock Exchange announced Briscoes would replace Frucor on the Top 40 when the beverage company delisted at the end of the month.

Other stocks to rise included Bay Corp Advantage, up 10c to $7.30, DB Group up 5c to $6.55, Fletcher Building up 3c to $2.94, Lion Nathan up 7c to $5.87, Pacific Retail up 5c to $2.25, Software of Excellence up 6c to $3.16, The Warehouse up 5c to $6.70, Westpac Trust up 15c to $17.35, and Williams & Kettle up 10c to $4.18.

Falls included New Zealand Refining Company down 10c to $18.05, Richmond down 5c to $2.30, and Telstra down 2c to $6.70.

- NZPA