MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares pare monthly fall; TEL up

MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares pare monthly slide; TEL, FBU climb

May 31 (BusinessWire) – New Zealand shares rose, paring the NZX 50 Index’s monthly slide to 6.8%, amid perceptions stocks may offer relatively better value after the sell-off. Fletcher Building Ltd. and Telecom Corp. paced the gains.

The NZX 50 rose 13.47, or 0.4%, to 3061.22, the fourth daily gain since touching a 10-month low last week. Within the index, 18 stocks rose, 16 fell and 16 were unchanged. Turnover on the final day of the month was about $74 million.

Telecom rose from near its lowest in two decades. At today’s price, the stock is offering a dividend yield of 19%, based on its payments over the past 12 months. On the same basis, Australia’s Telstra Corp. is yielding 13.5%.

“Even if they reduce their dividend it is still an amazingly high yield,” said Alan Moore, who helps manage $600 million at Milford Asset Management. “The question is do you take the risk. At the end of the day you have got to ask, has Telecom got a future or is it going down the tubes,” he said. “I don’t think the latter is remotely likely.”

Fletcher, the nation’s biggest construction company, rose 1.7% to $8.26, having touched a three-month low close of $7.61 last week.

Pan Pacific Petroleum climbed 3.7% to 28 cents. New York crude oil for July delivery advanced to as high as US$74.68 a barrel during Asia’s day as the greenback weakened against the euro, bolstering the appeal of commodities.

Methven Ltd., the bathroom fittings and tap manufacturer, pared an earlier decline to end the day unchanged at $1.58. The company posted a 22% decline in full-year earnings, missing its guidance, after taking an impairment charge in the U.K., where it lost DIY chain Wickes as a major customer.

Michael Hill International, the jewellery chain, gained 2.9% to 71 cents and investment firm Guinness Peat Group climbed 2.6% to 69 cents.

Pike River Coal, which completely a further capital raising to provide funds to tide it over until it starts making export sales, fell 2.9% to 99 cents.

Tourism Holdings, the campervan rental company, tumbled 8.5% to 75 cents.

Sanford Ltd., the fishing company that exports most of its catch, gained 1.2% to $4.30 as the kiwi dollar weakened, boosting the value of its export sales.

Allied Farmers Ltd. sank 14% to 5.1 cents after the finance company announced on Friday that it had lifted the impairment charge on the Hanover Finance loan books it acquired in a debt-for-equity swap last year to $51.5 million, and still has a third of the book to revalue.

Pacific Edge Ltd., the biotech company, climbed 6.7% to 32 cents, adding to a 7% mump on Friday after it announced the successful completion of the clinical trial for its bladder cancer detection test and said the test is now ready for clinical application.

Tower Ltd. rose 0.5% to $1.91 after the insurer and fund manager part-owned by Ron Brierley’s Guinness Peat Group on Friday announced its first interim dividend in eight years after a turnaround in the value of its equity and property portfolios underpinned a surge in revenue. Net profit climbed 5.6% to $28.1 million.

(BusinessWire)

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