Tourism Holdings rises, sharemarket little changed

Fletcher Building shares regained some of the ground they lost in recent days as an index change loomed and Tourism Holdings shares surged in reaction to a partial takeover.

But overall the sharemarket was little changed. The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 1.796 points at 3452.685, having slipped 3.1 points yesterday. Turnover was worth $88 million. There were 48 rises and 42 falls among the 119 stocks traded.

Fletcher Building lifted 6c early, but was down a cent at 918 by the end of the session. The company's stock price has fallen back from a three-year high of 953 early this week.

Fletcher Building took up its a larger weighting in the NZX 50 at the end of today. People had purchased shares ahead of the change, which was occurring in stages, said David Price at Forsyth Barr. The company has a larger weighting after issuing shares as part of its takeover of Crane Group.

Tourism Holdings closed up 10c at 70 and traded as high as 71 after 19.4% shareholder Ballylinch launched a bid for control of the campervan operator at 67.5c a share.

"The stock has been plagued by poor earnings for the last wee while but the stock has been trading below net asset backing," Mr Price said. The market was indicating that it expected a higher bid.

OceanaGold shares were up 7c to 377, NZOG rose 2c to 97 and NZ Refining was unchanged at 52.

PGG Wrightson was unchanged at 52 and the company said today that Agria Singapore has Overseas Investment Office approval for its bid for control of the agriculture services firm.

Rakon rose 3c to 119, Tower rose 3c to 188, The Warehouse rose 5c to 352 and Xero rose 3c to 253.

Port of Tauranga rose 7c to 840, TrustPower rose 4c to 740 and Michael Hill rose a cent to 90.

Contact Energy eased 4c to 580 and SkyCity eased 4c to 344. Hallenstein Glassons eased 10c to 390 and APN News eased 4c to 208. Skellerup eased 3c to 130. SkyTV eased 5c to 578.