New Zealand share trading mixed as overseas prices rally

Westpac gained 2.6 per cent to $32.17. Photo / Steven McNicholl

New Zealand shares were mixed as investors did not follow offshore rallies, with Tower, Westpac Banking Corp and Metro Performance Glass gaining as Fisher & Paykel Healthcare dropped.

The S&P/NZX50 Index dipped 7.43 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 7072.89. Within the index, 24 stocks rose, 21 fell and six were unchanged.

Turnover was $202.5 million.

"Investors are a little bit hesitant - I think they are waiting for next month's financial reporting season to kick off," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "The market was relatively steady. It didn't really follow those offshore markets higher."

Tower was the biggest gainer, up 2.7 per cent to $1.35.

"There's been some institutional crossing going on - haven't seen substantial security notices yet, but I'd imagine there's been selling and buying among the institutions," Williamson said. "Obviously that share price is at a pretty low level. It's been one of the disappointing stocks on the market in the past few years."

Dual-listed banks were strong, with Westpac gaining 2.6 per cent to $32.17 and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group up 2 per cent to $26.65.

"The sector has been under pressure for quite some time but we have seen a pretty reasonable turnaround - those stocks have really rebounded pretty significantly," Williamson said.

Building stocks were stronger, having had an uptick this week, which Williamson said was due to the Government and Opposition talking about residential building and the market predicting a boom for the construction sector.

Metro Performance Glass rose 1.7 per cent to $1.84, Fletcher Building advanced 0.8 per cent to $9.07, and Steel & Tube gained 0.5 per cent to $1.95.

Trustpower advanced 1.3 per cent to $8.

"That's been quietly moving upwards for a while now - it could very well be ahead of its possible demerger of its Australian wind assets, so investors might be doing a little bit of buying in that stock ahead of that company splitting into two," Williamson said.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell furthest, down 1.8 per cent to $10.08. Tegel Group declined 1.2 per cent to $1.63 and Goodman Property Trust shed 1.1 per cent to $1.305.

Spark dropped 1.4 per cent to $3.65.