MARKET CLOSE: Stocks mixed; Nuplex drops, THL gains

Monday 9th March 2009

New Zealand shares were mixed, with about the same number of decliners and gainers in the NZX 50 Index. Nuplex Industries sank to a 17-year low after hiring advisers for a possible capital raising. Tourism Holdings climbed on optimism visitor numbers will be boosted by a U.S. reality TV show that featured scenes in New Zealand.

The NZX 50 fell 1.87, or 0.1%, to 2469.17, the second daily decline. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 20 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was NZ$91.5 million.

Stocks were mixed across Asia. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.7% to 3166.2 with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rising on stronger prices for oil and metals. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Index fell 1.2% to 7087 after Japan posted a record current account deficit for January.

In New Zealand, investors are awaiting Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard's review of monetary policy on March 12, forecast as a 50 basis point cut in the official cash rate to 3% as the nation's economy is dragged lower by the global slowdown.

"As the world slowly comes to grips with the full economic impact of the credit crisis, New Zealand's own economic outlook is looking increasingly weak," said Nick Tuffley, chief economist at ASB Bank, in a report.

Nuplex fell 9.5% to 95 cents, leading the NZX 50 lower, after the specialty chemicals company hired Bancorp NZ, First NZ Capital Securities and accountants McGrath Nicol to help "determine its medium and short term capital needs in the current economic and trading environment." The shares have dropped 65% this year.

Tourism Holdings rose 6.4% to 50 cents, trimming its slide this year to 30%. Some 12.5 million viewers in the U.S. tuned watched an episode of The Bachelor set in Queenstown while the final, set in the Bay of Island's lured 15.4 million. Tourism New Zealand is planning to use the publicity in its campaigns.

Freightways Ltd. fell 5.1% to NZ$2.79 and Goodman Fielder dropped 7.6% to NZ$1.34. Rakon shed 3.1% to 94 cents.

Steel & Tube Holdings, which supplies steel building products, dropped 2.5% to NZ$2.73 and Fletcher Building, the nation's biggest construction firm, fell 0.4% to NZ$5.13 after government figures showed the value of home building activity dropped in the fourth quarter, while QV figures showed property values dropped 8.9% last month.

New Zealand Oil & Gas climbed 3.1% to NZ$1.35 after the price of crude oil rose to its highest in about six weeks on the prospect of production cuts by OPEC. Crude oil for April delivery rose as much as 2.7% to US$46.76 a barrel.

Businesswire.co.nz

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