Market close: shares rise - Contact, Fletcher, Telecom up

New Zealand shares rose as Fletcher Building, Telecom and Contact Energy, the biggest companies on the NZX 50 Index, gained and Restaurant Brands led some retailers higher.

The NZX 50 rose 24.85 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4420.06, the first gain in three sessions. Within the index, 28 stocks rose, 15 fell and seven were unchanged.

Turnover of $168 million included larger-than-average volumes of F&P Healthcare and Telecom.

Fletcher rose 0.8 percent to $8.57 after the company said it would fold Crane Group, the Australian pipe manufacturer and distribution business it bought in 2011 for $1.2 billion, into its infrastructure products division. Crane executive Dave Worley has left the company.

"There was a lot of duplication, a lot of cost they thought they were going to take out, going forward," says David Price, a broker at Forsyth Barr.

Telecom rose 0.8 percent to $2.46 and is up 7.3 percent this year, helped by the phone company's plans to rein in costs.

"In the short term there's quite a lot of cost out but you have the situation where revenue every six months is falling $54 million and they need to cut costs by that much just to keep pace," Mr Price says.

Some 35 percent of Telecom's workers are on salaries of at least $100,000, the most among listed companies.

F&P Healthcare, which gets more than 50 percent of its revenue in US dollars, ended the day up 0.4 percent to $2.48, though the bulk of the 7.6 million shares changing hands were traded at $2.46 or below, reflecting concerns about the kiwi reaching above 85 US cents, Mr Price says.

The high kiwi "is causing some real pain for anyone exporting to the US".

Units in Fonterra Shareholders' Fund fell 3.1 percent, or 23 cents, to $7.27 - a bigger decline than was implied by the company shedding its 16 cent interim dividend.

Clothing chain Hallenstein Glasson Holdings fell 2.1 percent, or 12 cents, to $5.73 after going ex-dividend for its 5 cent interim payment.

Government figures today showed retail spending on electronic cards fell 0.5 percent in March, with apparel hardest hit.

Restaurant Brands gained 2.8 percent to $2.99, Warehouse Group rose 2.5 percent to $3.69 and Kathmandu gained 1.7 percent to $2.44. Michael Hill International rose 1.5 percent to $1.36.

OceanaGold, which is under way with shipments from its mine in the Philippines, rose 5.1 percent to $3.10.

(BusinessDesk)