Market mixed as rally stalls

Steel & Tube Holdings led gainers in a mixed New Zealand stock market as the benchmark NZX 50 Index's 13-day rally stalled at a 34-month high.

Nuplex Industries extended its slide to an eight-month low.

The NZX 50 rose 1.51, or 0.04 per cent, to 3453.64 as at midday.

The index held at the highest level since June 2008.

Within the index, 25 stocks were unchanged or untraded, outnumbering the 13 gainers and 11 decliners.

Steel & Tube climbed 2.3 per cent to $2.71. Shares of the company that sells steel building products such as reinforcing bar are rated 'outperform' based on the consensus of four analyst recommendations compiled by Reuters.

Steel & Tube stands to benefit when the rebuild of Christchurch gets underway, stoking demand for building products.

Colonial Motor, which operates vehicle dealerships in Christchurch, rose 6.5 per cent to $2.45 after giving an update of earthquake damage on Friday, showing that only one of its four operations has been impaired by the quake damage.

Of the four, its Team Hutchinson Ford unit is within the Red Zone and a preliminary assessment shows it may be able to operate from 40 per cent of the site once some demolition work is done and public access restored.

Fletcher Building, the biggest company on the exchange, dipped 0.5 per cent to $9.29, easing from last week's three-year when it completed its Crane Group takeover and was included in Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index.

Nuplex declined 2.3 per cent to $2.98.

Shares of the specialty chemical maker have been on a slide since late February, when the company posted a 10 per cent decline in first-half earnings because of rising raw material costs and adverse foreign exchange movements and recognised $1.8 million of a $3 million settlement with the Securities Commission.

The New Zealand dollar will probably rise this week, as surging risk appetites and stronger commodity prices help the currency shrug off tomorrow's business confidence numbers for the first quarter, which are widely seen as weaker in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake.

All six of the strategists and economists surveyed by BusinessDesk expect the kiwi to gain against the US dollar, with the currency likely to trade in a range of between US75.85 cents and US77.25 cents, amid strong resistance on the topside.

That comes after the New Zealand dollar broke through a technical level last week to last trade at US76.85 cents from US75.05 cents on Friday in New York.

Skellerup Holdings was unchanged at $1.32 after AMP Capital disclosed a 20.3 per cent stake in the manufacturer, reflecting the interest it has assumed with parent AMP's takeover of Axa Asia Pacific.