MARKET CLOSE: NZ stocks join global rally

MARKET CLOSE: NZ stocks join global rally on central bank plan; Fletcher gains

Dec. 1 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand stocks rose, joining a global rally after the world’s biggest central banks teamed up to reduce borrowing costs for European lenders, which may limit the impact of the region’s debt crisis.

Fletcher Building, Westpac and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group rose.
The NZX 50 Index gained 7.104 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3277.309. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 17 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $85 million.

Equity markets rose across Asia today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed 2.4 percent in afternoon trading, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 2.6 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 5.9 percent after central banks led by the US Federal Reserve agreed to cut interest rates on dollar liquidity swap lines by 50 basis points. Stocks held their gains even after figures showed Chinese manufacturing shrank last month.

"People believe their is going to be resolution in Europe somehow," said Rickey Ward, domestic equities manager at Tyndall Investment Management

Fletcher, the nation’s biggest construction company, rose 2.5 percent to $6.07 today, having sunk to a 2 ½-year low this week. Steel & Tube Holdings, which sells steel building products, climbed 5.5 percent to $2.10, helped by government figures yesterday that showed the number of new dwellings approved, excluding apartments, rose a seasonally adjusted 7.1 percent in October.

ANZ Bank rose 3.5 percent to $26.80, Westpac gained 3.2 percent to $27.65 and AMP rose 3.5 percent to $5.63, tracking gains in their ASX-listed shares on optimism about the central banks’ plans.

OceanaGold, the operators of the Macraes gold field, rose 2.5 percent to 3.26.

Pyne Gould was unchanged at 35 cents after George Kerr’s Australasian Equity Partners Fund No. 1 extended its takeover offer for a further seven days.

Rakon, which makes components for navigation systems and smart phones, fell 5.6 percent to 51 cents, a record-low close and the biggest decline on the NZX 50 today. The stock is rated a ‘hold’ based on a Reuters survey of analysts.

Chorus, New Zealand’s largest telecommunications network operator, fell 2.7 percent to $3.20. The company was assigned an investment grade credit rating of Baa2 on $1.7 billion of debt by Moody’s Investors Service today.

Telecom, which spun off Chorus with a bonus issue of shares last week, fell about 2 percent to $1.99. Its credit rating was affirmed at A3 by Moody’s, with the outlook raised to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ following the completion of the demerger yesterday.

(BusinessDesk)

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