Market close: shares join rally on US jobs - SkyCity, Air NZ, Freightways gain

New Zealand shares rose, joining a rally in equity markets since figures on Friday showed the US economy added more jobs than expected last month, stoking demand for growth assets.

SkyCity Entertainment Group, Air New Zealand and Freightways led the advance.

The NZX 50 Index rose 33.526 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4473.384. Within the index, 27 stocks rose, 16 fell and seven were unchanged. Turnover was a lower-than-average $71.3 million as Australia's Queen's Birthday holiday kept investors across the Tasman on the sidelines.

SkyCity, the casino and hotel group, rose 4.3 percent to $4.33. Air New Zealand gained 2.3 percent to $1.54 and Freightways, the courier and data management company, gained 2.3 percent to $4.50.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.4 percent on Friday in New York after payrolls climbed 175,000 in May. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 Index was up almost 4 percent on reports the Government Pension Investment Fund plans to sell bonds to buy equities.

"There's a bit of spillover from overseas," says Greg Easton, an adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. "One of the bigger drivers of the market was Australia being closed for Queen's Birthday. We saw a bit of early buying interest."

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which gets more than 50 percent of its revenue in US dollars, rose 1.6 percent to $3.25 as the kiwi held near an 11-month low, recently trading at 78.30 US cents as the greenback rallied.

Auckland International Airport, the nation's busiest gateway, rose 1.3 percent to $3.04.

Fletcher Building, the construction and building products group, rose 0.8 percent to $8.36 after government figures showed property values are rising at a 7.1 percent annual pace. Steel & Tube Holdings gained 0.8 percent to $2.45.

Telecom gained 0.9 percent to $2.26. Fonterra Shareholders' Fund rose 0.3 percent to $7.27 after a Ministry for Primary Industries report forecast stronger prices and exports for dairy products through until 2017.

Turners Auctions rose 0.6 percent to $1.79 after financial services firm Dorchester Pacific said it had raised its stake to 19.85 percent, about the most it can hold without making a takeover offer.

"We're comfortable with that level of shareholding as we increase our understanding of the company," Dorchester chief executive Paul Byrnes says. "There's no intention at this stage to move higher."

Dorchester stock was unchanged at 30 cents.

Among relatively new arrivals on the bourse, Mighty River Power rose 1.7 percent to $2.34, remaining below its IPO price of $2.50. SLI Systems fell 1.4 percent to $2.05. Snakk Media fell 2.9 percent to 13.3 cents.

Postie Plus Group rose 3 percent to 17 cents after the clothing retailer said third-quarter sales fell 14 percent after seasonal stock was disrupted by problems at its third-party distribution centre. It had already flagged problems at the distribution centre and said today it was making progress in fixing the issues.

(BusinessDesk)