KEY POINTS:
Solid performances by Air NZ and Telecom enlivened an otherwise flat day for New Zealand shares.
Air NZ soared to its highest level since September 2003, up 17c or nearly 7 per cent to 267 before edging back to a close of 265.
The airline is enjoying cheaper fuel bills thanks to the New Zealand dollar and improved passenger numbers in an update yesterday.
Telecom gained 5c to 490 but had "a big day" volume-wise, turning over nearly $50 million in shares.
Brokers said Telecom was recovering from a period of weakness based on regulatory uncertainty, as shareholders anticipated a windfall from the sale of Telecom's directory business.
Generally the market drifted, despite a recovery on the Australian market and a mildly positive Wall St.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index rose just 2.26 points or 0.05 per cent to 4182.90 on total turnover of $118 million.
Other stocks in demand were GPG, up a cent to 231 on a $14.9 million turnover, and Sky City, up 7c to 480 on $6.6 million worth of shares.
Battered GPG was enjoying a favourable reaction to the sale of its 19.4 per cent stake in Tower offshoot AWM, Macquarie Equities broker Barry Johnson said.
"It'll put some cash back out that will give them some opportunities to do something else."
Export-related stocks continued to hurt from the high exchange rate, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 5c to 355 and fishing company Sanford down 8c to 470.
Sanford, which trades in US dollars, warned this week that the high New Zealand dollar and weaker US sales were leading it to a disappointing first half result.
Also today the NZAX-listed New Zealand Wine Company Ltd repeated its January warning that the high New Zealand dollar would prevent it achieving its full-year forecast.
At current exchange rate levels, the company said it would struggle to match last year's result, despite selling record volumes. Its shares closed flat at $2.50.
Other moves included Fletcher Building down 4c to 1145, Sky TV down 9c to 616, Hallenstein Glasson down 8c to 487, Rakon up 4c to 480, Auckland Airport down 4c to 236 and Mainfreight up 4c to 748.
Takeover target Summit jumped 20c to 635 and Cavotec trailed 10c to 460 on low volume after a share placement yesterday.
Falls outnumbered rises 55 to 51 on 152 stocks traded.
- NZPA