Article – Businesswire

March 19 (BusinessWire) – New Zealand shares rose, as Kathmandu Holdings Ltd. lead gains in retailers following its upbeat results, while Telecom Corp. drifted lower. The NZX50 climbed for the second-day running, rising 9.718, or 0.3% to 3230.40. Within …

MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares rise; Kathmandu extends gain, Telecom drifts lower

By Jess Jones

March 19 (BusinessWire) – New Zealand shares rose, as Kathmandu Holdings Ltd. lead gains in retailers following its upbeat results, while Telecom Corp. drifted lower.

The NZX50 climbed for the second-day running, rising 9.718, or 0.3% to 3230.40. Within the index, 19 stocks rose, 14 fell and were 17 unchanged. Turnover was $76.6 million

Stocks rose across Asia today, heading for the sixth week of gains, after figures showed the US economy, the world’s biggest, is continuing to expand with little inflation, ensuring interest rates will be kept low for an extended period. New Zealand’s benchmark index was near a two-month high today.

Kathmandu, which beat its prospectus forecast yesterday, topped the gainers on the NZX 50 for the second day, rising 8.7% to $2.38.

“With Kathmandu’s good result yesterday, they were expected to rally for a couple of days,” said James Lee, head of wholesale equities at First NZ Capital. The Kathmandu results may have bolstered sentiment for the retail sector, he said.

Clothing chain Hallenstein Glasson Holdings Ltd. rose 2.8% to $3.60. Warehouse Group Ltd. rose 1% to $3.90. New Zealand’s largest retailer’s stationery division’s first-half $3 million EBIT was about $1 million ahead of Forsyth Barr analyst Guy Hallwright’s forecast, according to ShareChat.

Telecom fell today, down 1.8%, to $2.11. After climbing yesterday out of a two-day slump, the phone company has dropped further. Deutsche Bank analyst Sameer Chopra thinks it could drop to 18 cents from 21, while Craigs Investment Partners Geoff Zame picks a fall to 22 cents from 24 cents according to the N.Z.

PGG Wrightson was the biggest gainer on the NZX50 today, rising 3.5% to 59 cents a share. With farm sales at low ebb, the rural service company increased its market share in transactions of economically viable farms, demonstrating a shift in the way the market is operating.

Lee however, said the rural sector has had it tough. “The high-geared part of the rural sector will be finding it especially tough, because the dairy payout isn’t till the end of the year,” he said.

Auckland International Airport rose 2.1% to $1.95. Statistics New Zealand’s release of the International Travel and Migration figures for the year ended Feb. 2010 today, showed a 2.5% increase in overall inbound tourism, with a jump in visitors from Australia.

“It’s obviously a real positive for the New Zealand tourism industry, and we can see that in the returns of AIA today,” Lee said.

Restaurant Brands, which has swelled sales at its KFC outlets and arrested the decline in its Pizza Hut stores, gained 2.6% to $1.95.

Rakon Ltd. was the biggest decliner today, falling 7.1% to 92 cents.

(BusinessWire)

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