SHAREMARKET Strong late run

Press, 19 December 1989, Page 27

SHAREMARKET Strong late run

After a sluggish start, the New Zealand sharemarket finished on a strong note yesterday to continue a recovery started last Friday. The Barclays industrial index rose 20.10 points to 1971.91, putting its gains for two consecutive sessions at 61.42 points. Previously, the market indicator had lost just under 164 points in eight sessions. Fletcher Challenge found solid support in the afternoon call, closing 10c up at 435. Brokers considered that the leading issue had been oversold during the big decline, the blue chip having been sold as low as 409. Mr Richard Boulton, research partner for Hamilton, Hindin, Greene, the Christchurch sharebroker, said that the big sell orders from overseas investors had evaporated. Brierley Investments and Robt Jones Investments were steady on reasonable volume. Both Air New Zealand and TV3 Network, the two new listings, were well bid, he said. The Stock Exchange’s gross index was ahead only 0.83 points in the morning call, but ended 5.81 points higher. Volume was a low 6.2 million shares, worth 512.3 M, with rises beating falls more than two to one. Other issues to recover strongly were Carter Holt Harvey (7c) and Goodman Fielder Wattie (8c). Lion Nathan firmed 5c to 355 ahead of yesterday’s annual meeting, and its competitor, Magnum Corporation, was 3c dearer. Brierley again led the most actives, with turnover of slightly more than IM, easing 1c to

192. Mair Astley was knocked back 13c, and Countrywide was also prominent on an 8c loss. Troubled investment group, Pacer Kerridge, lost 1c to 5, and Chase Corporation, which reported New Zealand’s largest corporate loss of SB4IM on Friday, was unchanged at 2c. Media issues were firmer again, having started to move down with the market trend last week. Independent Newspapers rose 5c and Wilson and Horton 3c. Among second-liners, Cardrona Group rose 3c to 65. The company, which has become an investment group after selling its ski-field, is the subject of a deal involving Paynter Corporation. Paynter was meant to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting yesterday, but this was postponed to Friday after intervention by the Stock Exchange. Paynter was untraded yesterday. Lasercorp, a subsidiary of PDL Holdings, rose 4c to 30. Stewart Robertson Family Holdings, a family company run by PDL’s chairman, Sir Robertson Stewart, last week extended its PDL offer to February. London Pacific, actively traded last week, eased 1c to 12, and Salmond Smith Biolab eased 5c to 100 after reporting a loss on Thursday. New Zealand Goldfields rose 5c to 20 on news that the company was considering going into liquidation in February. Mineral Resources, another miner, was also firmer and L and M, subject of a bid from AUR, of Australia, was unchanged at 60c. There was no interest in oil issues.