KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket closed at a new high today after a buyer emerged for CanWest MediaWorks, and investors held on in the hopes of further corporate activity.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index rose 0.5 per cent or 20.64 points, 12 points below its record high earlier in the session. Turnover totalled $129.2 million, with rises outnumbering falls 68 to 47.
Barry Lindsay of First NZ Capital said demand was outstripping supply, pushing stocks beyond their fundamental valuations.
"We're not getting, on average, strong earnings growth in an economy that's growing slowly, so we're getting a re-rating of the market."
The index has risen about 14 per cent in the past 12 months, and is up about 4 per cent since the start of the year.
CanWest MediaWorks, the owner of television stations TV3 and C4 along with a stable of radio stations, rose 5c to 239, below the 243 per share offer from Australian private equity company Ironbridge.
Ironbridge has an agreement to buy the approximately 70 per cent stake in MediaWorks owned by CanWest MediaWorks Ireland Holdings.
Fellow media stock Sky TV jumped 14c to 604.
"It's more a knee-jerk reaction that one media stock goes, it reduces the available opportunities and the expectation that money that might come out of CanWest will stay in the same sector," Mr Lindsay said.
Shares in Telecom were up a cent at 481, while Fletcher Building rose 16c to 1168, 9c below its record high earlier in the session.
Fletcher Building's chief executive Jonathan Ling told NZPA yesterday the company's Placemakers building products chain continued to perform well despite a market downturn.
Auckland International Airport fell 4c to 265, continuing its decline after the airport company said yesterday it had received no approaches, following media reports of a failed attempt on its share register.
Sky City rose 9c to 491 on news across the Tasman that Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd is to split its ballooning gaming interests and its media assets into two separate companies.
Sealegs rose 8c, or 11 per cent, to a record high 80 on news of delivery of six new amphibious boats in Italy and the appointment of a new distributor for the Middle East.
Contact Energy rose 6c to 876, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 3c to 372, and F&P Appliances was down 2c at 369.
Hallenstein Glasson was up 8c at 505 and Briscoe Group rose 6c to 170 after both retailers announced a rise in sales.
All up 3c were Air New Zealand, at 288, Hellaby Holdings, at 420, Infratil, at 615, and Mainfreight, at 718.
The Warehouse rose 12c to 688, and Tower was up 4c at 215.
Australian stocks fell from a record high, down 0.5 per cent at 6303.9, while Japan's Nikkei share average was steady on profit-taking.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at a record on Monday for the fifth day in a row, buoyed by Alcoa's US$27 billion ($37.1 billion) bid for Alcan.
- NZPA