MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares edge up in light trading amid floats

MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares edge up in light trading amid floats, Euro woes; Telecom gains

Nov. 8 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand shares rose, nudging the NZX 50 Index to a month high. Telecom gained after saying it will start selling iPhones to retail customers. Trading was lighter-than-average as Fairfax Media's Trade Me float and further European uncertainty kept some investors on the sidelines.

The NZX 50 rose 9.05 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3351.23. Within the index, 23 shares rose, 15 fell and 12 were unchanged. Turnover was $81.5 million, below the $100 million daily average during October.

Fairfax said today that the partial float of online auction company Trade Me Group has been priced at $2.70 a share, the top end of its range, and the media company will reap a total $529.5 million including new debt that Trade Me will take on. Sales proceeds from shares alone will be $363 million or more than four times the value of trade on the NZX today.

Telecom , the nation's biggest phone company, rose 2.1 percent to $2.69, the highest since August 30.

The company, which is to split into two listed firms to participate in the government's high-speed broadband rollout, will offer iPhones to its customers from Nov. 11, including the latest iPhone 4S, giving it more ammunition to compete in the mobile market with Vodafone, which was first to sell the Apple products.

Fletcher Building, the nation's biggest construction firm, edged up 0.3 percent to $6.52. The stock has shed 16 percent this year, sinking to a 2 1/2-year low in late October after the company warned earnings would fall because of a tepid housing market in New Zealand and Australia, and delays in the rebuilding of Christchurch.

The stock is rated 'outperform' based on a Reuters poll, with a price target of $7.51.

Steel & Tube, which sells steel building products, rose 4.4 percent to $2.40, the biggest gainer on the index in percentage terms.

Tower, the insurer controlled by Guinness Peat Group, gained 3.5 percent to $1.50.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, which last week posted a 19% gain in annual profit, rose 1.5 percent to $28 on the NZX. Westpac rose 0.9 percent to $28.70.

Heartland New Zealand was unchanged at 51 cents. The finance company with ambitions to become a bank dipped into its surplus cash reserves to retire $92.3 million of PGG Wrightson Finance bonds it took on board when it acquired the rural service company’s loan book earlier this year.

The lender had surplus liquidity of $496 million as at Oct. 31, down from $586 million at the end of August.

PGG Wrightson was the biggest decliner today, falling 5 percent to 38 cents. NZX, the market operator, fell 3.4 percent to $2.29.

(BusinessDesk)

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