THE MARKET Investors take profits after heady run

Press, 24 April 1986, Page 26

THE MARKET Investors take profits after heady run

Easy come, easy go. Just two days after recording its largest one-day rise, the New Zealand sharemarket had one of its largest falls, as the market took a deep breath and rebounded from a series of new peaks, in active trading. Barclays index of industrial shares, which had gained 165 points in less than a week, yesterday gave up 52.84 points on a turnover of 9.6 million shares. The value of shares traded, $17.6 million, worked out at an average of 182 c a share. Sharebrokers and stock exchange staff are battling to cope with the enormous flow of work, which co-incides with the new computer trading system that is at the moment being test-run. “From the opening of

trading the market began to ease yesterday,” said Mr David Dott, of the Christchurch sharebroking firm, Chamberlain Sturge and Company. “This trend continued during the day. “The announcement of a lower-than-expected Government deficit had no apparent effect on the market,” he said, “although it may help to steady trading tomorrow. “Already, towards the close, some stocks appeared to be steadying.” Brieley Investments, the market leader, led the falls shedding 35c to finish at 540. The day’s range for Brierley was wide — as low as 530 and as high as 585. Brierley rights ended 45c down at 485 having traded up to 540.

Brokers reported weakness amongst most leaders though over-all the market was not too far out of balance, with 43 rises against 70 falls. They said there was little buying strength, especially for the investment companies. As well as the fall for Brierley, there were drops for Chase, down 35c to 1020, Equiticorp down 10c to 515. Among the other leaders, Dominion Breweries rose 5c to 340 and Feltex was up 5c to 340, but Carter Holt Harvey was down 10c to 380, NZ Forest Products was down 10c at 270, and NZI Corp, was down 8c at 182. Among second liners, TAG Corp rose 60c to 200, while the newly-listed

goat farmer, Cashmere Pacific, was up 27c at 112, and Leyland Growth put on another 28c to 198. Beta Corp lost 20c at 360, and Renouf Corp was down 20c at 530. The market had obviously discounted Omnicorp’s profit report, as the shares responded with a 2c fall to 150 c. NZI Corporation also traded in a wide range, 180492 c, before closing 8c down at 182. NZ Salmon’s run came to a halt as the shares dropped 15c to 590 c, Montana Wines rose 12c to 162 c. The sale of more than one million Salmond Smith Biolab was reported yesterday as a late sale, at 250 c. Yesterday 15,700 shares sold at 240 c, unchanged on the day before.