Stocks to watch: Contact, NZ Refining, Nuplex

Wednesday 30th December 2009

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

Themes of the day: The New Zealand dollar gained to above 72 U.S. cents and was recently at 71.90 cents. Crude oil held near US$79 a barrel and shares were mixed on Wall Street. Trading is likely to be light with many investors taking a break between Christmas and New Year.

Allied Farmers (NZX: ALF ): Shares of the company, which is vastly enlarged since the issue of new stock to Hanover Finance investors, sank 4% to 12 cents yesterday, nearing the record low of 10 cents reached last week and valuing the company at $244 million. Shares soared to more than 1.9 billion from 37.7 million with the Hanover deal.

Contact Energy Ltd. (NZX: CEN ): New Zealand risks running short of power by 2013 because generators have reduced planned capacity increases, says the Electricity Commission. The shares rose 0.5% to $6.09 yesterday.

New Zealand Refining (NZX: NZR ): The nation’s only oil refinery dropped 4.2% to $3.69 yesterday and has declined 14% in the past month. Its gross refining margin shrank to US$1.16 in September and October from US$9.35 at the beginning of the year, the company said this month. “There remains considerable uncertainty with respect to our final result," the company said.

Nuplex Industries (NZX: NPX ): Managing director John Hirst raised his holding in the specialty chemicals company to 218,904 shares from 205,904 in two transactions before Christmas, paying $2.82 apiece. Shares of Nuplex fell 0.3% to $2.93 yesterday.

Westpac Banking Corp. (NZX: WBC ): Chief executive Gail Kelly sold about A$7 million of her almost A$40 million of stock, the Australian reported. Kelly sold 242,580 shares and the Kelly family trust also sold about $763,160 worth of shares and A$596,737 shares in two trades, according to the report. The shares rose 75 cents to $31.75 on the NZX yesterday.

Businesswire.co.nz

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