Market: Telecom and Hallensteins up

Shares in retailer Hallenstein Glasson continued to outperform the market today after a profit upgrade last week, while Allied Farmers shares traded at 3.5c each as investors wait for its future to be clarified.

The other feature today was a 6c rise in Telecom to 208 as investors wait to see if it has done enough to win the favour of the Government.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 9.867 points, or 0.324 per cent, at 3054.499, after edging down 0.04 per cent on Friday. Turnover was worth $60.7 million. There were 33 rises and 35 falls among the 111 shares traded.

Investors continue to wait for June 30 balance date earnings reports from the leading listings in coming weeks and there was little direction from offshore markets today.

Hallenstein Glasson gained another 3.4 per cent today after rising 6 per cent on Friday after the company forecast a big profit increase from managing its business well in a challenging trading environment.

Hallenstein Glasson closed up 13c at 395, on top of a 22c increase on Friday, taking the price to its highest level in 28 months.

The picture in retailing is mixed with Australian company JB HiFi today reporting a loss in its New Zealand business and Kathmandu Holdings last week indicating failure to reach prospectus forecasts.

The Warehouse was unchanged today at 352 and Michael Hill fell 3c to 65. Kathmandu rose 1c to 169.

Allied Farmers edged down to 3.5c when halting a capital raising plan today after suspending the prospectus of its finance subsidiary on Friday. Allied Farmers said today that the issue is its liquidity when the Crown deposit guarantee expires but it is confident it can reassure the trustee.

AMP Office Trust rose 1c to 72 on a day it named a new chief executive.

Restaurant Brands rose 4c to 248, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 4c to 294 and Tourism Holdings rose 1c to 74.

NZ Refining rose 3c to 303, Air NZ rose 1c to 114 and Methven rose 1c to 153.

Fletcher Building eased 4c to 760 and Port of Tauranga eased 5c to 675. Infratil eased 1c to 161 and NZX eased 3c to 144.

In the United States, stocks fell after government data showed a larger-than-expected drop in July payrolls, giving investors a stark reminder the economic recovery remains slow.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.2 per cent to 10,653.56, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 0.4 per cent to 1121.64, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.2 per cent to 2288.47.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 each rose 1.8 per cent, while the Nasdaq advanced 1.5 per cent.

- NZPA