Stocks to Watch: ANZ Bank in China, Nuplex's advance

Thursday 26th March 2009

The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading yesterday.

�� Themes of the day: Shares on Wall Street staged a late rally, led by banks such as JPMorgan Chase. Currency markets were roiled by comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither appearing to endorse Chinese calls for a new reserve currency before reiterating that the U.S. dollar would remain the benchmark. U.S. orders for durable goods unexpectedly rose last month stoking optimism the world�s biggest economy will pull itself out of recession

�� Air New Zealand (AIR): Flight attendants threatening to strike during the peak Easter weekend have defended their wage claims after they were moved from the airline�s low-fare subsidiary. Some 250 members of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union are considering the stop-work, affecting flights across the Tasman and on Pacific routes. The shares rose 1.1% to 91 cents yesterday.

�� Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ): One of Australia�s big four lenders announced plans to expand into China, opening over 20 branches by 2012. �With the significant slowdown in the US and European economies, the importance of China and Asia to the future of the world economy is now more obvious than ever,� said chief executive Mike Smith in a statement. Its stock rose 3.6% to NZ$20 in trading yesterday.

�� Ebos Group (EBO): The medical equipment supplier said it will focus on managing costs and reducing working capital in the current �volatile and challenging business environment,� according to its first-half report. The company said the downturn may yield �a number of investment opportunities.� The shares fell 0.4% to 4.83 yesterday.

�� Fisher & Paykel Appliances (FPA): The appliance manufacturer jumped 10% to 43 cents yesterday, after announcing it had become the first to participate in the government�s nine-day working fortnight scheme, with about 60 jobs to be saved at an Auckland plant after workers agreed to a temporary 35-hour week.

�� New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZO): The oil company named Craig Jones as chief financial officer, a role he will take up on April 14. Jones previously worked at Petsec Energy, a Sydney-based oil & gas exploration and production company with interests in the USA and China. The company is in a very strong position compared to its peers due to its strong balance sheet, ongoing revenue, and diverse portfolio, chief executive David Salisbury said in the company�s half-year report. The shares fell 0.7% to NZ$1.39 yesterday.

Nuplex Industries (NPX); The specialty chemicals maker soared 29% to 88 cents yesterday as investors sought the stock to gain entitlement to buy seven more shares at 23 cents apiece � a deal demanded by institutions before they would support the company�s NZ$132.8 million capital raising. �There are enough people prepared to back the company with their money,� Tower Asset Management�s Paul Robertshawe said.

�� Pyne Gould Corp. (PGC): The finance and investment company said demand in its MARAC and Perpetual Trust units will �generally remain soft� in the second half, with operating profit declining from a year earlier. The shares fell 2.5% to NZ$1.95 yesterday.

�� Sky Network Television Ltd. (SKT): New Zealand�s largest pay-TV operator has extended its carriage agreement with state broadcaster TVNZ to include high definition versions of TV One and TV2 and new channels TVNZ 6 and 7, which were previously exclusive to the Freeview platform. The agreement will also allow TV One to carry regional advertising. Its shares have fallen over 15% to NZ$3.92 in the past 12 months.

�� Telecom Corp. (TEL): The biggest company on the NZX 50 rose 1.7% to NZ$2.35 yesterday. Reuters this week reported that Asian telecommunications firm Pacnet is interested in acquiring Telecom�s AAPT unit though the value of the target is less than it was in December.

Businesswire.co.nz

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