KEY POINTS:
Telecom shareholders helped send the sharemarket up 0.8 per cent today, in an apparent relief rally at a Government recommitment to split the company into three units.
Telecom shares rose 14c to 444 after a final determination from the Government to force fixed-line monopolist Telecom to break up its operations.
That helped push the benchmark NZSX-50 index up 34.29 points to 4275.96 on a robust total turnover of $170m.
"It's generally quiet trading," Humphrey Sherratt, an investment adviser at Goldman Sachs JB Were said.
"A number of domestic investors are getting themselves organised for the new PIE structure so that's probably keeping them a little quieter than usual."
He said Telecom's surge "probably surprised the market, given that the outcome of the review from the Minister really didn't provide anything unexpected, and despite press speculation of the network being divested. That doesn't appear to be case,"
The other major feature of an otherwise quiet day was Fletcher Building's 34c rise to 1285. Mr Sherratt said there had been talk in Australia that Fletcher was considering selling some of its property portfolio, which might mean a capital return for shareholders.
Trading was strong in Sky City even though it dropped a cent to 506, albeit on volume worth $44m.
Infratil and Air New Zealand both jumped 6c to 303 and 233 respectively, after a report that investor Colin Giltrap is lining up a bid for Whenuapai Air Base.
Both Infratil and Air NZ have championed turning Whenuapai into a second civilian airport for Auckland.
Cavalier Carpets rose 3c to 340 after announcing a conditional deal to take a 70 per cent stake in Auckland company Norman Ellison Carpets.
Skellerup was flat at 99 after saying it was on track for a $12.5m net profit after tax in the 2008 year. That was slightly down from its 2006 result but a big improvement on last year's $637,000 profit, which was hit by restructuring costs.
Other moves included Contact Energy, down 3c to 939, Port of Tauranga down 13c to 675, and Nuplex up 12c to 716.
Motor maker Wellington Drive Technology rose a cent to 48 after jumping 20.5 per cent yesterday on news of a major new deal with Panasonic Refrigeration Devices Singapore.
Tourism Holdings was flat at 230 following the sale of MFS' 10 per cent stake at 220c a share.
Dual-listed stocks enjoyed a positive run , including ANZ up 44c to 3400, Westpac up 46c to 3250 and AMP up 19c to 1240.
Falls narrowly outnumbered rises 54 to 50 on 138 stocks traded.
- NZPA