Market continues to make gains

Midday Update

NZX and Pyne Gould Corporation paced gains on the NZX 50 Index after more upbeat data from the US and news that the stock exchange operator made a Forbes Magazine list of top-performing companies.

The NZX 50 rose 7.59, or 0.2 percent, to 3090.07 as at midday, heading for its third daily gain.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 0.9 percent overnight on stronger housing and jobs market data.

NZX gained 2.2 percent to $1.42. Forbes Magazine including the securities market operator in a list of 200 "best under a billion" companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Separately, the company's clearing and settlement system has passed a crucial regulatory milestone ahead of going live this month, gaining "designated" status by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Securities Commission today.

Pyne Gould rose 2.4 percent to 42 cents.

The company said yesterday that its Perpetual Group unit is in talks to acquire ASB Bank's Aegis WRAP platform.

No price was given in their statement. Aegis has about $5 billion of funds.

Allied Farmers, the embattled finance company which took over the Hanover loan book, rose 4.1 percent to 0.25 cents.

Earlier today the company's chief executive Rob Alloway announced his resignation.

His departure follows that of chairman John Loughlin, who left after the firm's Nationwide unit was placed into receivership.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, the medical equipment manufacturer, rose 0.3 percent to $2.99 after Mondrian Investment Partners, an Anglo-American money manager with US$64 billion under management, disclosed a 5 percent stake in the company.

The kiwi dollar held on to most of yesterday's gains as solid US home sales and good demand for Spanish and French government bonds stoked investors' appetite for riskier, or higher-yielding, assets.

That's before American employment data today, which will likely show the US shed 100,000 jobs last month.

Imre Speizer, market strategist at Westpac Banking, expects anything near expectations will keep investors upbeat about the kiwi.

The New Zealand dollar recently traded at 71.30 US cents from 71.59 US cents yesterday.

House sales in Auckland continued to tick over quietly in August but remain stalled on winter sales levels while prices came under pressure, with the average sales price for the month falling to its lowest level since January.

Property prices in Auckland averaged $510,978 in August, the lowest in six months and down 4 percent from the same month of 2009, according to Barfoot and Thompson.

The number of properties sold by the real estate firm fell by 7 from July to 637.

Just Water International was untraded after the listed water cooler supplier with operations in New Zealand and Australia, posted a full-year loss amid soft earnings as it took its Australian business off the books in preparation to sell it.

The company posted a net loss of $19.2 million in the 12 months ended June 30, compared to a net profit of $1.8 million in the previous period.

It recognised an impairment of $18.3 million from its Australian subsidiary, Clearwater Filter Systems, which it is selling.

The shares were last at 17 cents.

- BusinessDesk