NZ sharemarket rises

File photo / NZ Herald

DNZ Property Fund listed today at a premium to its offer price on a New Zealand sharemarket that held its ground while other markets fell as the reporting season cranked up.

DNZ Property ended its first day on the market at 99c, a premium to its 97c offer price.

NZX chief executive Mark Weldon said the listing of a company of DNZ's nature and scale was significant for New Zealand markets and investors.

"It is a New Zealand infrastructure company that will enable New Zealanders to gain access to a well diversified property portfolio on the NZX Main Board," Mr Weldon said.

New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay, which debuted in 2006, rose 5c to 63 after Union Agriculture Group topped Olam International's 55c a share bid with a 60c a share cash offer. Both are down from the $1 a share investors paid in the initial share offer.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 8.402 per cent, or 0.279 per cent, at 3023.529. Turnover was worth $57.85 million. There were 54 rises and 24 falls among the 111 stocks traded.

Auckland Airport was unchanged at 196 after Pacific Blue, which provides $2 million a year of revenue to the airport, said it was withdrawing its domestic market. Air NZ rose 2c to 116.

Pyne Gould Corp shares were up 2c to 43 after the company lifted its full-year net profit forecast about 5 per cent to $22 million.

Freightways shares rose 7c to 275 after the company said its second half was an improvement on its first-half as the economy slowly recovers.

"People are comfortable with the fact that the company has probably now seen the worst," said Marcus Curley, an analyst at Goldman Sachs JBWere.

"The pace of the recovery is relatively modest but it is reassuring that it is heading up," he said.

PGG Wrightson rose 2c to 54 ahead of a press conference tomorrow with Landcorp and Silver Fern farms. Affco was unchanged at 37.

Turners and Growers was unchanged at 140 after saying it would appeal a court judgment it lost in its battle with kiwifruit exporter Zespri.

Tower was unchanged at 189 after announcing a change in its chief actuary.

Contact Energy rose 2c to 582, Telecom rose a cent to 207 and Fletcher Building eased 12c to 723. NZX rose 3c to 144 and APN rose 4c to 256.

Allied Farmers shares traded at 2.6c.

In the United States, stocks slumped toward the close on Friday (local time) as economic data gave little reason to reverse a string of sell-offs. In a thinly traded session, indexes posted their fourth day of losses.

US retail sales rebounded last month, as did the overall July consumer price index, but the data was consistent with an economy that has slowed in recent months.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.2 per cent to 10,303.15, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.4 per cent to 1079.25, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.8 per cent to 2173.48.

For the week, the Dow fell 3.3 per cent, while the S&P slid 3.8 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 5 per cent.

- NZPA