MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares gain; NZO, PPP rise on Tui

MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares gain; NZO, PPP rise on Tui find, PGW lifts

June 10 (BusinessWire) - New Zealand shares rose, pushing the NZX 50 Index up for the fourth day in five, after the partners in the Tui licence reported finding hydrocarbons in their latest test well, lifting shares of NZ Oil & Gas and Pan Pacific Petroleum.

The NZX 50 rose 2.22, or 0.1%, to 3002.32. Within the index, 21 stocks rose, 17 fell and 12 were unchanged. Turnover was $77.1 million.

NZ Oil & Gas, which owns 12.5% of Tui, climbed 3.7% to $1.41 and Pan Pacific, with 10%, jumped 12% to 28 cents.

An exploration well being drilled into the highly prospective licence area encountered hydrocarbons in the target sands, the companies said today. “Oil shows were encountered” in the Kapuni F Sands, “which have proved productive at the adjacent Tui oilfield," they said. The shows will be evaluated in coming days.

PGG Wrightson Ltd., New Zealand’s biggest rural services company, rose 1.9% to 54 cents after announcing it will restructure its divisions into two businesses – Agriservices, which will handle everything from finance and real estate to livestock and rural supplies, and AgriTech, which will hold the seeds, grain and nutrition assets.

Michael Hill International, the jewellery chain, fell 1.5% to 66 cents, leading declines among retailers after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rates for the first time in three years, as expected, which is likely to drive up short-term interest rates for households.

Warehouse Group, the biggest retailer on the NZX 50, fell 1.4% to $3.45.

New Zealanders increased spending on the debit and credit cards in May, the fourth monthly increase, according to Statistics New Zealand. The value of transactions in retail industries rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month, from a 0.3% gain in April.

Rural firms also rose today after government figures showed the terms of trade had its biggest gain since 1976 in the first quarter, driven by prices of dairy exports.

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay, which develops dairy farms in South America, climbed 2.3% to 45 cents.

Allied Farmers Ltd. rose 4.4% to 4 cents after the finance company that took on the Hanover and United loan books in a debt-for-equity swap last year, said it has conditional agreement to sell the second stage of the troubled Five Mile property development in Queenstown.

Managing director Rob Alloway said the sale was well-timed, given the firm’s in negotiations with its own lenders for the next financial year. “We always knew this site had strong strategic value, and the sale price achieved, which is in excess of the value attributed to the property in the half year accounts, reflects that.”

Goodman Fielder Ltd., the Australasian food products company, fell 2.4% to $1.63, the biggest decliner on the benchmark index today.

Telecom Corp., whose chief executive, Paul Reynolds, is fronting an advertising campaign urging New Zealanders to give the company’s troubled XT network ‘another go,’ gained 3.3% to $1.87. The shares sank to a two-decade low this month.

ING Medical Properties Trust rose 2.5% to $1.23 and Pyne Gould Corp., the finance and asset management group, rose 2.3% to 44 cents.

(BusinessWire)

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