NGC shines as Carter stumbles

The sharemarket closed weaker yesterday after Carter Holt Harvey gave back some gains, but Natural Gas Corp (NGC) was a highlight.

"It's been pretty quiet really, overall, but the big transaction of the day was in Natural Gas," JB Were's Alan Stout said.

About 16.5 million NGC shares went through the market at 200c, accounting for the bulk of trade in the stock worth $33 million. Mr Stout said he did not know who was buying. Australian Gas Light has announced its intentions to reach 72 per cent ownership of NGC but has not indicated it wished to go beyond that. Natural Gas ended up 9c at 199c.

Carter Holt Harvey shed 22c to 226c, which Mr Stout put down to the stock's normal volatility, while others noted end of quarter adjustments might have been an influence on some stocks.

In the tourism sector, Auckland Airport firmed 5c to 290c, Air NZ As gained 7c to 305c and Tourism Holdings added 5c to 250c after saying it would split joint venture assets with partner Trojan Holdings in a move which would cut THL's debt by $20 million.

The NZSE-40 capital index closed down 10.89 points at 2136.40 while the NZSE-SCI capital index was up 18.98 points at 4925.08. Telecom remained steady on 810c.

Guinness Peat Group firmed 1c to 151c with large volumes traded. A parcel of 1.74 million shares went through at 150c. Mr Stout noted the stock was trading at a sharp discount to net asset backing around 200c.

Among the leaders, Contact firmed 3c to 306c, Fernz was down 4c at 546c, Fletcher Energy rose 2c to 512c, Lion Nathan was up 4c to 452c and AMP rose 5c to $20.62.

Brierley Investments was steady at 53c after announcing the sale of most of its British rail interests, at a $40 million profit.

Market turnover was boosted on Tuesday by TVNZ's sale of Sky Television shares to INL. Yesterday INL gained 8c to 710c and Sky TV was up 6c at 331c.

Elsewhere, Progressive Enterprises was up 15c at 300c after an independent report valued the shares at between 300c and 324c - above the 290c Foodland is offering.

Elderly care company Ryman, which listed on Tuesday at 135c, was up 1c at 136c.

Advantage Group continued its strong rally, firming 2c to 208c, Ceramco and Pacific Retail both rose 4c to the same 150c level, Telstra soared 28c to $10.80, and TrustPower was up 6c at 418c. - NZPA