NZ stocks: Telecom provides big boost

A strong finish by Telecom helped lift the sharemarket to a firm close yesterday.

"It was a two or three-horse race but Telecom was the predominant reason why the index was up," said JB Were broker Peter Stokes.

The top 40 index closed 16.26 points, or 0.82 per cent, ahead at 1991.43. The top 10 index gained 9.71 points to 886.07 but the small stocks index fell 2.03 points to 5219.16.

Turnover was light at $81 million and of the 146 stocks traded, 57 rose and 43 fell.

Mr Stokes said the market would be likely to hold its breath until tomorrow when Fed chairman Alan Greenspan decides whether or not to cut US rates again.

A 50 basis point cut is largely factored in and he said there was greater scope for disappointment if a cut of that magnitude did not eventuate.

There was $16.6 million worth of Telecom shares traded. The market leader closed 15c up at $5.65 as a result of good demand. Its Australian counterpart Telstra closed up 3c at $8.88.

Telecom's BT-owned rival Clear said it could be part of the BT Global listing.

Fletcher Energy broke above $9 for the first time since November 20. It eased off its high to end 5c up at $9.00 on turnover of $26.2 million. Its strength was due to the weaker kiwi dollar and a firm Capstone Turbines price on the Nasdaq.

Stablemate Fletcher Building arrested its slide in the wake of the surprise resignation last week of its CEO-designate Alexander Toldte. It rose 2c to $2.07.

Contact Energy fell 5c to $2.75 on light volume. The stock with the largest number of shareholders in New Zealand may have been affected by mum and dad sellers put off by the bad publicity at its annual meeting yesterday. Small shareholders attacked the remuneration packages of directors and executives vis a vis the share price performance.

Meanwhile, Edison Mission's nominee on the board, Bob Edgell, said they were in Contact for the long haul, contrary to recent speculation.

Natural Gas fell another 3c to $1.32.

AMP rose 12c to $23.02, having experienced a bad run this year.

NZ Refining lifted 25c to $15.25 on slim turnover and Sanford rose 15c to $5.00.

Others to prosper included Port of Tauranga, 10c to $5.70, Reid Farmers, 3c to 85c, and Westpac NZ, 25c to $15.20. Genesis fell 10c to $7.20 having had a strong rise this month.

Others to drop included Williams and Kettle, 17c to $2.77, Air NZ Bs, 4c to $2.12, GDC, 10c to $3.70 and Nuplex, 3c to $3.44.

The New Zealand dollar was stalled in a tight 16-point range yesterday as markets awaited the US Fed's rate-setting meeting today.

"It's been a real quiet one," a dealer said. The kiwi was at 43.44USc at 5pm, up slightly from 43.38c at 9am, but below Monday's 43.74c close.

- NZPA