MARKET Bull run ends

Press, 20 December 1985, Page 10

MARKET Bull run ends

The run of 16 consecutive gains by the Barclays industrial index came to an end yesterday, as profit-takers hit the New Zealand sharemarket. The Barclays industrial index lost 19.07 points to 1912.48, having gained 205.70 points since November 26. Falls headed rises by only 72 to 66, though, and market leaders were mixed. Mr Max Mathias, of the Christchurch sharebroker, Lawrence Milton Howarth, said that trading was hectic with a lot of interest still being shown in the market in spite of profit-taking bitting high volume stocks such as Brierley, Chase, and Fletcher Challenge. Also of interest was the gain by Horizon Oil, although this

issue had little to show yet from the move into investment. The mining index was only rising because Horizon, along with Kupe, were moving up, and it had nothing to do with oil exploration. Brierley dropped 15c to 800 after trading on the day between 790 and 185. Chase lost 8c to 580 and Fletcher 5c to 355. Horizon Oil’s contributing shares sold as low as 65c before closing at 75c for a 10c rise on a turnover of 455,000, and Kupe was also firmer. M. O’Brien was untraded in spite of announcing a loss of at least $1.35M was expected in its latest year. The quotations on the Christchurch-Invercar-gill Stock Exchange for the issue were buy 15c, sell 45c. Lane Walker Rudkin, which owns 53.9 per cent of M. O’Brien, was unchanged at 105 c. Not all market leaders were easier. NZ Forest Products rose 2c, Equiticorp 10c, and Winstone 3c. ANZ Banking Group was steady at 250 c after issuing its annual report. Newmans Group stood out on an 8c loss.

L. D. Nathan eased 5c after Wednesday’s annual meeting, and R. W. Hellaby firmed 1c after its new chairman, Mr Bruce Judge, predicted that the company could be a top performer next year. Consolidated Enterprises was steady at 10c in spite of announcing a loss, and Mace stood out on a 28c drop. Stevens RMS, the new listing resulting from the merger of Stevens Corporation and a division of Fernz Corporation, had its first price change since coming on the boards on Wednesday — a 2c drop.