Stocks to watch: Allied Farmers, NZX, OceanaGold, Warehouse

Wednesday 16th December 2009

The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading yesterday. All prices are in New Zealand dollars unless specified.

Themes of the day: Investors in Hanover Finance are scheduled to vote today on whether to accept Allied Farmers stock in exchange for their debentures and notes. Shares fell in the U.S. and the greenback gained amid speculation the U.S. will ease out of its stimulus measures in the face of resurgent inflation. In Australia, figures today may show third-quarter gross domestic product expanded 0.4%, with some economists trimming their estimates.

Allied Farmers (ALF): The finance group returned to its recent record low of 19 cents yesterday. Hanover Finance investors are due to vote today on whether to accept Allied stock in lieu of their secured investments. The proposal would leave them with more than 95% of the enlarged company.

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZO): Crude oil rose in NewYork for the first time in 10 days on signs of increased U.S. industrial production, which may stoke demand for fuel. Crude oil for January delivery rose 1.6% to US$70.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight, having slid more than 10% in the past nine days. The shares rose 3 cents to $1.66 yesterday.

NZX Ltd. (NZX): The stock exchange operator has announced further expansion of its product range with a set of electricity price indices for the wholesale electricity market. The NZX Real Time Electricity Price Index will be calculated from indicative ‘five-minute prices’ and distributed in near real time, the NZX said in a statement. The shares rose 2.3% to $8.80 yesterday.

OceanaGold Corp. (OGC): The gold miner yesterday updated reserves at its Macraes and Reefton mines by 617,000 ounces of gold. That’s the second time in as many months it has lifted the reserves estimate. The shares soared 15% to $2.30 yesterday.

PGG Wrightson (PGW): The nation’s largest rural services group Wrightson climbed 4.8% to 66 cents yesterday, its second daily advance of that size after trading in the company’s rights, which will raise $181 million toward the total $250 million capital raising, ended on Monday.

Warehouse Group (WHS): Eftpos and credit card transactions climbed 6.7% last week, according to data on the Paymark network, which processes about 75% of the traffic, suggesting consumers are starting to pick up the pace of spending in the run-up to Christmas. The shares fell 3 cents to $4.02 yesterday.

Businesswire.co.nz

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