MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares rise as Fletcher, Spark earnings settle investors

Wed, 19 Feb 2020

New Zealand shares rose as first-half earnings reports from Fletcher Building and Spark New Zealand brought confidence to investors. The S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 45.19 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,981.03. Within the index, 19 stocks gained, 28 fell, and three were unchanged. Turnover was $133.4 million. Fletcher led the market higher, rising 4.4 percent to $5.41 on a bigger volume than usual of 4.2 million shares. It reported a first-half profit of $82 million, down from $89 million a year earlier, due largely to costs from its Austral...

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