MARKET CLOSE: Gains in Fletcher building drive market

Tuesday 5th April 2011

Solid gains by blue chip stocks, including a fresh three-year high for Fletcher Building, drove the New Zealand sharemarket higher today but progress was held in check by light volumes and little in the way of corporate news.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 9.9 points, or 0.29%, at 3469.38.

"At the moment, it's had a relatively good run as have some of the other markets, and it looks to me to be taking a bit of a breather until its next move," said David Price of Forsyth Barr.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) gained a further 8c to close at $9.41. The company has been on the rise with the $1.3 billion deal to buy Australia's Crane Group, transforming it into the largest building materials business in Australian and New Zealand.

The stock's inclusion in the S&P/ASX 200 Index last month has also attracted more heavy-weight investors.

Among other top stocks, Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) lost 3c to $5.79, Telecom (NZX: TEL ) was down 0.5c at $2.06, casino company Sky City (NZX: SKC ) rose 4c to $3.47, Sky TV (NZX: SKT ) gained 7c to $5.77 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZX: FPH ) was up 2c at $3.19.

Trustpower (NZX: TPW ) was up 2c at $7.20 while its parent Infratil (NZX: IFT ) was steady at $1.92.

Vector (NZX: VCT ) gained 4c to $2.63, Steel & Tube (NZX: STU ) gained 6c to $2.77, Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ) jumped 15c to record high $9.09 and Ebos Group (NZX: EBO ) gained 5c to $7.65.

NZOG (NZX: NZO ) was flat at 95c as the Royal Commission preliminary hearing opened in Greymouth today. NZOG has a 29% shareholding in Pike River, the West Coast coal mine where an explosion last November killed 29 men.

On the decline were financial services stock Tower (NZX: TWR ), down 5c at $1.85, Pumpkin Patch (NZX: PPL ), down 4c at $1.29, and NZ Refining (NZX: NZR ), down 3c at $4.79.

The market did not react to the release of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's quarterly business survey, which showed a decline in sentiment after Christchurch's devastating earthquake but was not as bad as it could have been, Price said.

"The expectation is that, we've got a strong currency and weakish demand, that we're still going to be in for challenging times."

Across the Tasman, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.2% at 4898.5 following a no-change to interest rates as expected from the Reserve Bank of Australia this afternoon.

Earlier in the US, the S&P 500 Index failed to break a level that has held since mid-February and ended flat, even as a spate of deals and underlying strength in the economy spurred optimism.

But caution ahead of earnings season held volume to its lowest level this year and suggested the recent rally may be fading.

NZPA

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