Sharemarket down for second day

Press, 24 March 1988, Page 33

Sharemarket down for second day

The sharemarket cqntinbed the pausq in its recovery-for the; second day in succession yesterday. ’ ! I The Barclays industrial] index ] slid- back below 2000 points as market leaders eased, with a slackening] of oyerseas buying interest, perhaps in anticipation of a weakening New Zealand dollar. !]’ However,! the market correction haslbeen slight and is no indication that thq fall to February] 29 is likely' to be resumed.

Trading yesterday was essentially quiet, with moderate volume, but enthusiasm was at allow ebb. said Mr Sirpon Flood, the market tjperqtor forjEgdeh Wignall and Company, of Christchurch] ] ; ifijading in the Barclays index on the Futur-es Exchange was fairly spasmodic, and! this: reflected jin !the sharemarket. Mr ' Flood added. The futures I market often gave an early indication of the sentiment of the sharemarket. i : L-.t : Fletcher Challenge bore the brunt] of selling pressure. The;leading shares were not strong enough to take the market up but did hold.the market up. The trading in the New Zealand market was in line with’ overseas markets, Mr] Flood said.

The Barclays industrial index ’fell] 15.85" points, or 0.79 per jcent.: to 1991.10. It has fallen for’two days in succession] losing 24.64 points, or 1-22%. , The Stock Exchange's gross; index was down 4.52 pbints at: 721.76 yesterday, and its capital - index was dowh 4.51’ points at 651.57.

The Australian market resumed its upward trend yesterday with the all-ordin-aries index up 6.1 points at; 1427 at the close of floor! trading, despite falls] in 'resource stocks. Oh Wall' Street on Tuesday] (early yesterday, New Zea'-’ land time), shares] closed mixed, the Dow Jones Indus-’ trial . average finishing a shade under point down ’ but] rises outnumbering falls. Lon-; don ] prices ' shadowed Wall Street, ] trading in a ] narrow; range and the market closing’ slightly down. Iri Tokyo yesterday prices] .closed up: in robust grading.

' ' ' ' '1 i ’ ’ ' with the Nikkei ’ index up 0.20% (52.48 points)] after a 123.51-point fa 1 ] on (Tuesday • after four days'of price rises. In Hong! Kong yesterday, stocks closed' sharply lower on speculative I selling triggered by rumours] that the Hong Kong Association ; j of Banks will raise interest rates shortly::’ ; |" I | ; J The. selling saw the Hang Seng index’down points to 2561:91,] after i( lost only 8.98.. in | the morning] session. The broader I based I Hong Kong index was 20.94 lower at 1679.14.' I I “Overseas fund managers may further unload their holdings' . (of | | Kong stocks) ; in view of a] possible interest!| rate hike,"! said! a British brokerage f rm trader. On the ’New Zealand futures market, the March Barclays index contract closed 5c up at 1995.; taking a premium to the! physical ’contract again, and perhaps indicating that the consensjs] is the correctiqn of ! the, last two days has gone far enough. The || market : leader. Fletcher Challenge, propped 12c to 462, its price of six trading days ago bn Its climb from its post crash] low : of 385 c on. February 29. Turnover in 9 this stock was very light. .backing; northern brokers' statements of overseas, interest. Petrocorp rose 2c to 172 in very heavy trading -j- IDEM shares. Brokers say fhe high recent turnover in :he issue is because Fletcher Challenge is offering .cash only (|l7sc) to minority’ holders. ! Brierley Investments was ’ also traded heriv lyi (1.98 M shares' worth | 82.7 M). It. closed 3c down at 131. falling for the: second successive day. Robt. Jones ; Investments: again fell 3c, add ng to the correction sincre its verystrong rise since February 29. Corporate Investments’; options jumped 22c ti 82. They are now 82% | atjoye their; post-crash low of at the! beginning of this month. Cor-] porate Investments ’ shares; eased 7c to 165, still 37.5% up: on their post-crash | low of 120 c two weeks] agio. I Against the trend. Baycorp options rose 15q to They have risen 21% since their low of 280 c on ! Fe bruary 129, but are still well below their

price of 700 c at the beginning of ’ October, j Baycorp shares also rose 3c yesterday.] Baycorp is the largest 'company in New Zealand debt reporting and collection. ■ | ’. L D. Nathan 18% specified preference shares tell 20c to 1000. This followed an 80c fall on Tuesday. I Inter-Pacific Equity rose 25c to 100. It bottomed at 52c last month from its pre-crash price of 370 c! ! ’ • ; The . Invercargill-based Foveaux-Radio rose 30c to 80. back to: its! price! at the beginning of December, compared with ’1; 10c before the crash. I ’ j Mineral Resources, wtiioh has a 27%: stake; in the Martha Hill; gold-mining project at Waihi, fell 4c to 61. After falling I from 130 c before the October ]crash. it bottomed, at : 50c early last month. The options, whose exercise: date has extended from: March 31 to August 31, I rose l]c to 10 yesterday. They traded as low as 2c last month after being at 85c last September.. Steel and : Tube ’ Holdings added 12c to 100. This is 20c, or 25% above its post-crash low of two weeks ago. : Southern Petroleum prices maintained their ]4c ’ price (more than double in a week) in high turnover. | Among local issues,: Lane Walker Rudkin Industries added 2c to 97 and] Mair Astley added ]sc to ]205; RJI now third Robt Jones Investments now had more than 58.000 shareholders making it the third largest company behind Brierley Investments |- and Fletcher Challenge, according to RJl's company secretary, Mr Dan Twigg. . RJI had 517.2 M shares on issue; The company is expected to announce. its annual result next month. • ; GPS gets funds ; Government Property Services. Ltd, Ija State-owned enterprise, has signed ]a bill acceptance tender facility underwritten to S2SOM. The funds would be used mainly for an ■ initial payment on assets acquired by the corporation from the Govern-; ment, Government Property Services, said.) ■