NZ stocks: Telecom regains toehold above $5 as buyers appear

Solid buying in market leader Telecom boosted the New Zealand sharemarket today.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index closed up 5.86 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 2294.82, and the top-40 index was up 0.13 per cent at 2196.05.

Topping turnover were Telecom and Carter Holt Harvey, the number one and two stocks, with $28.2 million and $11.0 million respectively.

Total turnover was 38.10 million stocks valued at $96.01 million.

Alan Wills of Forsyth Barr Frater Williams said Telecom's finish above 500, up 3c at 501, was the main feature of today's session.

"It's certainly been sold off (recently) on very large volume," he said.

"I think it may be a combination of people selling Telecom, which is a fairly defensive stock, moving into more cyclicals or other markets... where there are better performance opportunities.

"But of course at 500 we think it represents very good value anyway," Mr Wills said.

Carter Holt Harvey rose 2c today to a nine-month high of 183, also on very good volume.

"People are buying these commodity-based stocks, and pulp and paper is a essentially a commodity -- and if they feel the world economy is going to pick up then those sorts of stocks are the place to be," he said.

The Warehouse was down 6c at 555, on just 78,000 shares, Sky City lost 3c to 865, Westpac was down 9c at 1780, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 4c to 1266, and Lion Nathan was down 15c at 630.

Fletcher Building rose 2c to 429 on turnover of more than one million shares. "It's a fantastic business, it's very well managed and has proven it can grow both organically and by acquisition. Certainly the feeling is that construction is going to remain robust for the foreseeable future," Mr Wills said.

Gas and electricity network company Powerco, which posted a 40 per cent improvement in half-year profit to $30.69 million, closed up 2c at 186.

Newly-listed stock vodka maker 42 Below closed down 4c at 34, well down on its initial public offer price of 50c.

Contact Energy was up 2c at 495, ANZ rose 10c to 2110, Guinness Peat Group gained 2c to 173, NZX shares rose 15c to 475, Postie Plus was up 1c at 119, Freightways rose 1c to 180 and Hirequip gained 1c to 95.

Shares in troubled financial services group AMP remained in a trading halt as it headed back to court to try and gain the legal all-clear to release a document outlining its demerger plan.

Tranz Rail was unchanged at 118, 8c above Toll Holdings' offer price.

There were 49 rises and 42 falls on the 140 stocks traded.

On Wall St the Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 4.09 points at 1939.10, the Dow Jones industrial average eased 9.93 points to 9803.05, while the Standard & Poor's 500 was down 2.72 points at 1046.76.

- NZPA