NZ stocks: Top stocks blitz other bourses

The sharemarket shrugged off its typical Monday-itis to outperform the other Asian markets yesterday.

After a flat start, the NZSE-40 index closed up 18.67 points, or 0.88 per cent, at 2138.30. Turnover was strong for a Monday at $67 million.

"If you look at what's happening in Asia right now, the Japanese market is down, Taiwan's down, Hong Kong's down and Australia's down," said Forsyth Barr Frater Williams dealer Alan Wills.

"It's certainly been a situation where we've been weathering the storm better than most markets. All of the results we've had recently have satisfied the market and corporate New Zealand is in pretty good shape."

Leading the charge were top stocks Telecom, Carter Holt Harvey, Fletcher Building, Contact Energy and Auckland International Airport.

Telecom added 5c to $5.25 on turnover worth $20 million, Carter Holt closed up 1c at $2.09 - just shy of its year high of $2.10 - Fletcher Building rose 2c to $2.84, Contact jumped 6c to $4.14 and Auckland Airport rose 9c to $4.54.

Fletcher Forests stole the show on the news front after it announced it had reached an agreement with the receivers of the Central North Island Forest Partnership to conditionally buy the estate for US$650 million ($1.34 billion).

Forests' shares rose 1c to 26c on the news, while its preference shares were steady at 25c.

"It hasn't ignited the stock but the deal is certainly mildly positive for the company," said JBWere senior investment adviser Peter Stokes.

Rubicon spiked 3c to 70c - a fresh high - before settling up 1c at 68c.

Wills said Fletcher's announcement removed the uncertainty surrounding the forests' sale.

"Over time that will be reflected in the share prices of Forests and Rubicon."

Sale target UnitedNetworks added a further 10c to $8.30, Baycorp Advantage climbed 13c to $3.70 - recouping some of last week's losses - The Warehouse added 11c to $7.71 and Briscoe Group was flat at $2.27.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 15c at $8.65 after shedding a 25c dividend, F&P Appliances slipped 3c to $9.47, but Sky City rose 7c to $6.39.

Other stocks to go ex-div included Horizon Energy (75c), Colonial First State Properties (2.21c), Powerco (7.2c), Richmond (5c) and WestpacTrust Investments (39.77c).

Horizon lost $1.10 to $15.90, Colonial closed 3c lower at 105, Powerco lost 6c to 195, Richmond was untraded at $2.35, and WestpacTrust was 46c lower at $17.99.

Vending Technologies jumped 4c to $2.34 in early trade, but settled to trade square at $2.30.

The newly listed vending company posted an after-tax profit of $5.4 million for the year to March 31 after the market closed on Friday.

Scott Technology spiked 15c to $1.99 after saying late on Friday that it had won two further orders from leading world whiteware companies, totalling $8.5 million, and a smaller order for $3.7 million. It closed up 8c at $1.92.

Nuplex closed flat at $3.10 after extending its A70c-a-share takeover offer for Asia Pacific Specialty Chemicals to July 12, from June 24.

- NZPA