MARKET CLOSE: NZ stocks rise; Cue gets Woodside farm-in

MARKET CLOSE: NZ stocks rise; Kathmandu, Pumpkin Patch and Michael Hill pace gainers

Jan. 6 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand stocks rose for a second session, with retailers Kathmandu Holdings, Pumpkin Patch Ltd. and Michael Hill International Ltd. pacing gainers on the exchange.

The NZX 50 Index rose 1.72 points, or 0.1%, to 3326.71. Within the index, 22 stocks gained, 18 declined, and 10 were unchanged.

Turnover was $35.6 million.Kathmandu, the outdoor clothing retailer, rose 3.3% to $1.86, Pumpkin Patch, the children's clothing retailer, rose 3% to $1.70, and Michael Hill, the jewellery maker and retailer, rose 2.3% to 89 cents.Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings, the whiteware manufacturer, rose 3.6% to 57 cents.

Craig Brown, senior investment analyst for One Path New Zealand, said the market was nervously awaiting the sales numbers from the key Christmas retailing period.

Hopes of better-than-expected results were dented yesterday when Warehouse Group, New Zealand's biggest listed retailer, downgraded its interim earnings after November and December sales fell 2.7%.

Shares were unchanged today at $3.42.Pyne Gould Corp., the financial services company, rose 2.7% to 38 cents, after it announced that the merger of its Marac finance unit with the Canterbury and Southern Cross building societies was now complete. The announcement, which saw Marac bonds resume trading on the NZDX today, under the guise of the newly formed Combined Building Society, which seeks to transform itself into a $2.2 billion bank, with government including it into the extended retail deposit guarantee, and ratings agency Standard & Poor's awarding an investment grade rating of BBB minus.

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