Investors hit firm note to New Year

Press, 12 January 1981, Page 18

Investors hit firm note to New Year

By.

NEVIL GIBSON

Pre-Christmas predictions of a firm sharemarket in the New Year proved to be more accurate than even the most optimistic would have expected. The • event under-pinning an unexpectedly busy and active first week was, of course, the listing of Fletcher Challenge.) The new shares traded for the first time on Tuesday, and were immediately quoted at 232, several cents above the theoretical price for the last-day sales of Fletcher and Challenge as separate issues. Fletcher Challenge was steady at 235 c for three days before rising one cent at the end of the week. Stock exchanges had only

morning call, but the market saw more than two million shares change hands during the period. The steady rise in the N.Z. United index — up nearly 10 points — was attributed to continued demand for shares from small investors, who still had

I plenty of cash from last! I year. i It is ,traditional also, at I this time of the year for • sharebrokers to issue their ] recommendations for the I New Year, and this causes! many investors to shuffle or] top up their portfolios. At the top of any list must be Fletcher Challenge, but- the range of other recommended issues goes beyond the blue chips. Prominent among these on the local scene are Command, which now has a profit in the one-million-dollar a year bracket, Mair and Company, which will move into the same bracket this year, and N.Z. Farmers, which has now successfully integrated Haywrights. Command jumped five cents during the week, as did Mair, showing that the buying advice is being heeded.

Other prominent gains during the week were made b ' Autocrat (up 15c), Brierley (up 15c), Canterbury Timber (up 15c), E. Lichtenstein (up 30c), Henderson Pollard (up 15c), Holeproof

(up 10c), McKechnie (up 15c), N.Z. Forest (up 12c), Re vertex (up 10c), Selby (up 10c), Waitaki (up 11c), Westbridge (up 20c), and Yates (up 10c).

Some of these are reactions to drops in past weeks, but others are clearly on the way up and will continue to climb. ■

Exporters, ’ retailers, most parts of the food industry, and certain types of construction will all benefit from an election year and the first benefits of the “think big” policy.

The Institute of Economic Research’s quarterly predictions have been mildly optimistic for the first time in years, and it would appear there is more for-ward-thinking in the boardrooms on investment plans than there has been in the past.

Although the problems of inflation, unemployment and higher oil prices won’t go away, a positive attitude to the future will provide most of the confidence needed to ensure a buoyant investor j climate in the months ahead.