Allied Farmers shares rise as bargain hunters emerge

December 23 - Close

Allied Farmers rose 22 per cent to 13.3c today, which brokers put down to bargain hunting in a market making its way back to previous highs.

Allied Farmers shares fell sharply earlier this week when Hanover Group debenture holders started selling some of the 1.9 billion new shares issued to them in payment for Hanover assets.

"The bargain hunters have taken over that stock today with the debenture holders not doing quite so much selling," Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene said. More than 4 million Allied Farmers shares traded today.

Overall, the benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 30.378 points, or 0.956 per cent, at 3209.562, after opening slightly firmer. Turnover was worth $66 million. There were 52 rises and 18 falls among the 112 stocks traded.

"We've closed well. We are above 3200 for the first time since November 2. We've made up the small downward move with Dubai's problems but we are still not back to the peak in October," Mr Williamson said.

Fletcher Building rose 9c to 790 on a day it was reported that the economy expanded for a second quarter in the September quarter with the housing and mining sectors among the strongest performers.

Telecom rose 5c to 250 and Telstra rose 6c to 421.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare rose 4c to 340 and brokers said it often improves when the New Zealand dollar weakens, as it did today. Still, Sanford, an exporter, fell 8c to 470.

The Warehouse rose 3c to 423 after reports that shoppers are spending more than last year this Christmas season. Michael Hill rose 1c to 66.

SkyTV fell 7c to 498 and Steel & Tube fell 4c to 281. Nuplex rose 5c to 290.

PGG Wrightson shed 4c to 58 on a day in which it posted notices of shareholder changes after its successful rights issue.

Xero fell 3c to 158, SouthPort rose 5c to 270 and TrustPower fell 5c to 725.

NZX halted trading in Botry-Zen after the company said it had asked its bankers to call in receivers.

Reuters reported from New York that stocks rose as a surge in existing home sales indicated more stabilisation in housing and boosted optimism about the economic recovery.

The CBOE volatility index, Wall Street's favourite measure of investor fear, fell 4.6 per cent to close below 20 for the first time since August 2008.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 50.79 points, or 0.49 per cent, to end at 10,464.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 3.97 points, or 0.36 per cent, to finish at 1118.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 15.01 points, or 0.67 per cent, to close at 2252.67.

- NZPA