NZ sharemarket rises, Pike share trades cancelled

Photo / NZH

Pike River Coal shares traded briefly twice today at 20 cents each by mistake and the trades have been cancelled, while the New Zealand sharemarket rose but not as much as other markets in Asia.

The debt and equity markets operated by NZX halted for two minutes today at 2pm when the nation observed two minutes' silence at the start of a remembrance ceremony for the 29 men who died at the Pike River mine.

Brokers said that when trading resumed the suspension on Pike shares was not in place and orders in the system matched and the shares traded at 20c each. The shares had last traded at 88c on November 19. A similar thing happened again around 3.44pm. The trading was seen as unfortunate and the transactions have been cancelled.

Overall, trading was quiet and volumes were light, though sentiment in this and other markets was positive today.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 20.387 points, or 0.624 per cent, at 3285.486.

"Volumes are very skinny. There have been three names only that have traded over a million shares on the day," James Lee, head of institutional equities at First NZ Capital, said.

"Our market hasn't shown the same enthusiasm as other markets today. We have seen big moves in Australian companies but we have seen pretty benign moves in New Zealand companies," he said.

Telecom rose 3c to 218, Fletcher Building rose 4c to 791 and Contact Energy rose 4c to 602.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 8c to 307 and Ryman Healthcare rose 1c to 219.

Nuplex rose 6c to 338 and Rakon rose 2c to 117.

Fishing company Sanford lifted 10c to 485, on top of its 5c rise yesterday that came after the company announced the completion of its agreement to buy Pacifica Seafoods' Greenshell mussel and Pacific oyster businesses for $85 million.

Ebos Group shares were down 13c today to 762 on thin volume. TrustPower fell 5c to 739 and Cavalier Carpets fell 4c to 303.

Delegat's shares rose 7c to 181 as the company explained its strategy for surviving in a challenging industry at it annual meeting today.

The sharp gain in US stocks came as European officials' efforts to save the euro zone appeared to be near a critical point and data suggested the global economic recovery was steaming ahead.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.27 per cent to end at 11,255.78, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 2.16 per cent to 1206.07, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.05 per cent to 2549.43.

- NZPA