Stocks to watch: ARG, GEL, HNZ, IFT, OGC, VCT

July 20 (BusinessDesk) – The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading. All prices are in New Zealand dollars unless specified.

Themes of the day:

With no local data to distract traders today, all eyes will be on offshore developments after commodity and equity markets rebounded amid signs politicians in Washington were close to signing deficit-reduction deal.

On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rising 1.6% to 1,326.73, Europe's Stoxx 600 Index gaining 0.8% to 264.28, and the 19-commodity Thomson Reuters Jefferies CRB index climbing 0.8% to 346.54. The clear 'risk-on' signal saw demand for growth-linked currencies spike in the session, with the kiwi clear standout performer, hitting a fresh post-float high of 85.66 U.S. cents. Average prices of dairy products fell to their lowest level since early December in Fonterra Cooperative Group’s latest online auction, with the GDT-TWI Price Index declining 5.1% to US$3,796 a metric tonne.

Argosy Property Trust (ARG): The listed property investor's trustee has knocked back a bid from activist unitholders to dump the property investor’s OnePath NZ Ltd.-owned manager. The Guardian Trust Co.’s Bryan Connor said the OnePath-owned manager hadn’t breach any of its obligations under the trust deed, and the cost of removing and replacing it would create a "significant degree of disruption". ARG shares fell 1.2% yesterday to 82 cents.

Glass Earth Ltd. (GEL): The NZAX-listed gold miner says it has found significant results from surface channel sampling undertaken at its Muirs gold prospect in New Zealand. The company said the results confirmed the potential of the Muirs prospect, and provided another platform for development work to confirm this. GEL shares rose 3.3% yesterday to 62 cents.

Heartland New Zealand Ltd. (HNZ): The would-be bank lifted its capital raising to buy PGG Wrightson Finance to $58 million, with $35 million still to be raised from existing shareholders via a share purchase plan. The sale is underwritten by Pyne Gould Corp. for $10 million and by Impact Capital Management, a private company representing Tomlinson family interests, the statement said. HNZ shares fell 1 .6% yesterday to 61 cents.

Infratil Ltd. (IFT): The infrastructure investment holding company's Z Energy retail petrol chain, which is co-owned with the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, is contemplating a second bond issue after it raised $150 million on July 8 for bonds maturing in August 2018 and carrying a 7.25% coupon. IFT shares rose 2.3% yesterday to $1.82.

OceanaGold Corp. (OGC): The gold miner says Mark Chamberlain will take over the reins as financial officer from August. The announcement came after current CFO Marcus Engelbrecht announced in June he was stepping down after 2 ½ years with the company. OGC shares rose 1.9% to $3.65.

Vector Ltd. (VCT): The Auckland electricity and gas supplier fell 4.4% yesterday to $2.42 on suspicions that it would be one of the losers under the Commerce Commission's draft decision to reset regulatory controls for 16 electricity distribution businesses from 2012-2015. The scheme looks to reshape the pricing landscape to balance returns among providers, maintain consumer costs, while still seeking to foster infrastructure investment incentives.

(BusinessDesk)

BUDGET 2012:
Parliament Debate Live - Video Of Budget 2011
Keith Ng Interactive Graphic: How the Budget Breaks Down
BUDGET 2012 - FULL COVERAGE: Reports / Analysis - Press Kit - Reaction (from everybody) - Previews (from everybody) - Pre-Budget Announcements

Gordon Campbell: On the Budget’s Spreadsheet Victories

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Pattrick Smellie Comment: Doddling along the best we can hope forCriticising Budgets for lacking vision or imagination is like shooting fish in a barrel, but even so, this year's Budget again feels like a missed opportunity. Perhaps it's the intrusion of real world needs that means the government couldn't make better political use of the $558.8 million it expects to gather in its first partial asset sale. More >>