MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares mixed; Telecom gains, Fletcher falls

Feb. 1 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand shares were mixed, with the NZX 50 Index eking out a small gain though more stock fell. Telecom led gainers, reaching the highest since the spin-off of its Chorus network unit last year. Fletcher Building fell after weak Australian house sales data.

The NZX 50 fell 5.58 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3301.78. Within the index, 26 stocks fell, 18 rose and six were unchanged. Turnover was $62 million.

Telecom gained 2.9 percent to $2.155. The stock is rated a 'hold' based on the consensus of 11 analysts polled by Reuters with a price target of $2.225. In December, chief executive Paul Reynolds said following the demerger there was scope for "some form of capital management" with details to be given with its results this month.

Fletcher Building slipped 1.2 percent to $6.44. Australian house prices fell by a record amount last year, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures today. An index of prices of existing homes in major cities fell 4.8 percent from a year earlier.

Yesterday, government figures in New Zealand showed building consents fell to a record low in 2011. The company has already flagged a 10 percent drop in first-half profit, partly reflecting weak housing demand in its biggest markets.

Air New Zealand, whose well-regarded chief executive Rob Fyfe announced his resignation yesterday, rose 1.1 percent to 92 cents.

Pyne Gould Corp was unchanged at 36 cents after George Kerr’s Australasian Equity Partners No. 1 LP said it lifted its interest in the company to about 64 percent. It has waived a condition of its takeover that it must get at least 90 percent of the finance company via its 37 cents-s-share offer.

Rakon fell 4.6 percent to 62 cents. The maker of crystal timing devices said this week it wasn't sitting on any information that could explain a surge in its stock of almost 50 percent in January.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group led declines on the NZX by Australian lenders after Fitch Ratings put the region's biggest lenders on credit-rating watch negative this week, citing their reliance on overseas funding.

ANZ Bank fell 2.2 percent to $27.20 and Westpac Banking declined 1.5 percent to $26.90.

(BusinessDesk)

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