THE MARKET Quietly mixed with softer bias

Press, 18 December 1986, Page 37

THE MARKET Quietly mixed with softer bias

Prices were mixed and falls again outnumbered rises on a softish New Zealand sharemarket yesterday. Barclays’ index of industrial shares crept up 4.96 points to 3793.48 while volume was almost exactly Tuesday’s — 10.4 million shares worth $22.8 million an average of 220 c a share.

Some brokers attributed the lacklustre trading to continued investor nervousness.

“Generally the market was mixed yesterday, with little buying support in evidence,” said Mr Ken Stevens, market operator for the Christchurch sharebroking firm Harkness and Company. “It would seem that buyers are giving it a miss for the remainder of the year,” he said.

“Volume was moderate because of lack of institutional interest.”

A suggested merger between McConnell Dowell Corp, Ltd, and National Pacific Corp, Ltd, was officially abandoned yesterday, and the closing price for National Pacific shares was down 16c at 115. Most of the almost one million shares traded sold at above the 130 c mark, however. McConnell Dowell closed unchanged at 299. lEP fell 25c to 725, after taking a similar tumble on Tuesday. Among market leaders to drop in price were Rainbow, down 8c to 537, Carter Holt Harvey, down 7c to 455, and Equiticorp, down 2c to 540.

Others to fall were Leisureland, 6c to 161, Magnum 20c to 675, and Robt Jones 5c to 320.

Robt Jones today announced a new voluntary lock-up bonus share scheme, a l-for-10 cash

issue, and the purchase of a 24-storey office block on New York’s Wall Street.

Hellaby shed 4c to 318, Wellesley dropped 3c to 345, and Fletcher Challenge fell 2c to 585. Price rises among market leaders included Wilson and Horton, which jumped 25c to 740, and Wattie, which closed 20c higher at 640. Omnicorp went up 8c to 260, LD Nathan up 15c to 785, and BNZ Finance up 10c to 375.

Goodman Fielder rose 13c to 585, and Jardens was up 8c at 300.

Both New Zealand’s major breweries made gains today: Dominion was up 6c at 700, and Lion put on 2c to close at 660. Other leaders to increase were NZI, up 6c at 241, Renouf, up 5c at 650, and Progressive, also up 5c at 480.