MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares rise, as blue chips gain

MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares rise, as blue chips Fletcher, Telecom gain

Oct. 31 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand shares rose as Fletcher Building climbed to its highest in more than five years and Telecom paced gains among blue chip companies. Tech start-up GeoOp soared 120 percent in its NZAX debut.

The NZX 50 Index rose 41.646 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4909.726. Within the index, 25 stocks rose, 15 fell and 10 were unchanged. Turnover was a higher-than-average $223 million.

Fletcher, the biggest company on the NZX 50, rose 3.7 percent to $9.99, having reached as high as $10.01 in intraday trading. Figures today showed home building consents rose 1.4 percent last month, driven by the rebuild of Christchurch, while building approvals in Australia jumped 14 percent.

“Investors are starting to get more comfortable in the New Zealand housing growth rate forecasts going forward, and the Christchurch rebuild,” said Grant Williamson, a director at brokerage Hamilton Hindin Greene. “It’s starting to see some pretty good earnings.”

Steel & Tube Holdings, which supplies steel building products to the construction industry, rose about 1 percent to $3.18.

Telecom gained 2.2 percent to $2.35 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 3.1 percent to $3.68.

“The market just keeps on carrying away and we continue to see good inflows of funds coming into the market,” Williamson said. “A lot of those funds ended up in blue-chip stocks like Telecom and Fletcher Building and Fisher & Paykel.”

Skellerup Holdings rose 3.7 percent to $1.70 having announced yesterday that it expects a 21 percent gain in earnings in 2014.

OceanaGold, the operator of the Macraes gold field, gained 16 percent to $2.01. The company today released quarterly results showing earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of US$76 million from US$42.5 million in the previous quarter, which it attributed to higher gold and copper prices and lower cost of sales.

GeoOp, the tech start-up whose mobile software allows small and medium-sized companies to manage their workforce, ended its debut day at $2.20. It sold shares in a private offering for just $1.

Meridian Energy slipped 0.9 percent to $1.09, still above the $1 apiece the instalment receipts sold at prior to this week’s debut.

“There was some pretty big buying on day one, and it’s quietened down,” Williamson said. “It’s going to be relatively stable barring any poll results favouring the Labour/Greens.”

MightyRiverPower climbed 0.9 percent to $2.23 and Contact Energy edged up 0.2 percent to $5.25.

(BusinessDesk)

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