NZ Shares: Strong rise for local market

Shares in Fisher & Paykel Appliances shot up 44 per cent after the company announced an equity raising programme and a new cornerstone shareholder.

Appliances announced Chinese appliance company Haier is to take a 20 per cent stake.

A fully underwritten equity raising was launched to raise a minimum of $189 million, including a $46m initial placement to Haier, and a fully underwritten $143m pro-rata renounceable rights issue.

Shortly after opening Appliances' shares were up 29c to 95c.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 28.84 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 2762.92, after losing 6.1 points yesterday.

Today's strong early performance came after stocks in the United States climbed more than 2 per cent as data showing the biggest monthly jump in consumer confidence in six years lifted hopes of an economic rebound, along with a brokerage upgrade of Apple.

Methven shares rose 3c early to $1.32 after reporting a 3.1 per cent rise in net profit to $10.1m. The company said the result demonstrated the effectiveness of its strategy to diversify revenue sources.

Rakon shares were unchanged early at $1.50 after announcing a 59 per cent fall in full year net profit to $4.5m as global economic troubles hit sales.

Shares rising early included Port of Tauranga, up 20c to $6.20, Fletcher Building up 12c to $6.45, Contact Energy up 8c to $5.78, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 6c to $2.93, Steel & Tube up 3c to $2.90 and Telecom up 3c to $2.61.

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In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.4 per cent to finish at 8473.49, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.6 per cent at 910.33, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.5 per cent at 1750.43.

- NZPA