MARKET CLOSE: NZX 50 snaps 9-day rally; PFI falls

MARKET CLOSE: NZX 50 snaps 9-day rally; PFI, PPP fall, Pike gains

March 9 (BusinessWire) – New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index snapped a nine-day rally, with the U.S. market providing little overnight impetus and commodity prices weakening. Property for Industry and Pan Pacific Petroleum led the decline.

The NZX 50 fell 9.6, or 0.3%, to 3213.20. Within the index, 23 stocks fell, 15 rose and 12 were unchanged. Turnover of $71.9 million was dominated by trading in Fletcher Building shares, which were unchanged at $8.10, near a six-week high.

New Zealand’s biggest construction company told an investor conference in London that the outlook for 2010 is dependent on the uplift in new housing construction being sustained, while the end of Australia’s insulation scheme “will adversely impact second-half earnings.”

Property for Industry fell 3.4% to $1.15, leading the index lower. Last month the specialist property investor reported the value of its portfolio shrank for the second straight year.

Pan Pacific Petroleum, which has proved to be one of the whippiest stocks on the index, fell 2.9% to 33 cents. Crude oil declined for the first time in three days as the greenback strengthened and traders bet U.S. stockpiles are rising.

Pike River Coal rose 2.3% to 91 cents as the A$3.3 billion offer for Australia’s Arrow Energy Ltd., a coal-seam gas developer, from Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina stoked broader interest in coal producers.

New Zealand Oil & Gas, which owns almost 30% of Pike, rose 1.3% to $1.60.

NZX Ltd., the stock exchange operator, slipped 0.5% to $1.98. The company today released notes for a presentation in which it said 50% of its future revenues to come from fees on clearing and settlement services and high margins obtainable from derivatives trading.

Clearing house facilities essential to running a derivatives trading platform would create a "fundamental change to NZX Business," which is currently rooted in its traditional equities trade and lower-value data revenues, it said.

Freightways Ltd. rose 1% to $3.10. The courier and logistics firm noted signs of improvement in the domestic economy but said it hasn’t yet experienced “sustained, across-the-board improvement, which indicates to us continuing market volatility and suggests that the impact on Freightways of an improving economy will be gradual.” The comments were in the company’s interim report.

(BusinessWire)