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Market close: Shares snap 5-day slide as Fletcher, Contact rise


Building consents rose 7.8% in September, the fourth straight gain and biggest growth since March, as intentions to build in Auckland and Christchurch gather pace.

Wed, 11 Jul 2018

BUSINESSDESK: New Zealand shares rose, snapping five days of decline, as stronger housing data helped lift Fletcher Building and Contact Energy advanced. Skellerup Group fell after revising its guidance.

The NZX 50 Index gained 16.59 points, or 0.4%, to 3957.87. Within the index, 26 stocks rose, 16 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was about $133 million.

Fletcher rose 1.7% to $7.04, having dipped below $6 yesterday. Building consents rose 7.8% in September, the fourth straight gain and biggest growth since March, as intentions to build in Auckland and Christchurch gather pace.

AWF Group, the temporary worker company, rose 6% to $2.43 after it reported stronger earnings and noted signs of a pickup in activity in Christchurch.

Skellerup fell 3.5% to $1.67 after reducing its guidance. It expects next year's profit to fall as much as 11% from a record result in 2012 as the company enters a tough trading environment.

"The market had got too far ahead of itself," says James Smalley, an adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "The AGMS are restoring a bit of reality to shares versus earnings."

Nuplex Industries fell about 1% to $3.02 and Cavalier dropped 2.6% to $1.89.

OceanaGold was the biggest percentage gainer on the NZX 50, rising 4.3% to $4.15. The Melbourne-based company made a loss of $US397,000 in the three months ended September 30, from a profit of $US10.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier, it said in a statement. Gold sales shrank 12% to $US91.2 million.

Chorus rose 0.6% to $3.38. Chief executive Mark Ratcliffe told shareholders in Wellington the decision to split Chorus out of Telecom as a standalone entity was on the idea that "fibre pricing was set so as to be attractive in comparison to the copper pricing" and that regulation could undermine that goal.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 0.8% to $1.275 after Haier got Overseas Investment Office approval for its takeover, the last hurdle since it already has acceptances for more than 50% of the stock.

Pumpkin Patch, the children's clothing chain, gained 3.3% to $7.04. Goodman Fielder was up 2.7% to 76 cents and NZ Refining gained 2.6% to $2.82.

PGW Wrightson, whose controlling shareholder Agria gained an extension on a loan used to help fund its holding, fell 2.9% to 34 cents.

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Market close: Shares snap 5-day slide as Fletcher, Contact rise
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