The sharemarket edged higher through morning trade, despite dips in the share prices of heavyweight stocks Telecom and Contact Energy, a broker said.
At 10am, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 0.43 of a point at 3001.09. The NZSX-All capital index was up 0.44 of a point at 961.29.
Early turnover was $27.6 million, including $14.02m worth of Telecom shares. Among the 120 stocks traded so far today were 38 rises and 27 falls.
Shares in Telecom were down 2c at 595, while those in Contact Energy were down 6c at 690.
Hamilton Hindin Greene broke Grant Williamson said the market was typically quiet for a Monday.
"Telecom and Contact are a bit lower on profit taking," Mr Williamson told NZPA today.
"Other than that there's just not to much going on," he said. "Maybe when the Australian market opens we'll get some clear direction."
Life Pharmacy today announced a maiden net profit of $582,000 for the March year. The firm, which recently listed on NZX, also confirmed a fully imputed dividend of 1.2cps a share.
Life Pharmacy shares were unchanged at 128c.
Zintel Group posted a March year net profit of $3.38m, down 17 per cent on the previous year's $4.09m surplus. It issued a 1.74c a share fully imputed dividend. Its shares were steady at 90c.
Fletcher Building gained 7c to 628, while fellow construction sector stock Steel & Tube was up 15c at 460.
After gaining 24c on Friday, Fisher & Paykel Appliances stacked on another 2c to 312. This despite the firm reporting a 20 per cent fall in its March year net profit to $68.56m on Friday.
The firm also cut its final dividend to 9cps, from 11.5c a year ago.
Shares in Ports of Auckland bounced back 5c to 795 after Auckland Regional Holdings (ARH) extended its 800c a share takeover offer until June 17.
Casino operator Sky City was unchanged at 447, having gained 12c on Friday.
Pay television operator Sky TV, down 5c at 665, and Independent Newspapers Ltd, up 5c at 615, were on the move ahead of their increasingly likely merger.
Other stocks on the move included: AMP down 10c at 740, Hellaby Holdings up 10c at 550, Lion Nathan down 8c at 754, NZX up 10c at 860, Tower down 4c at 191, The Warehouse up 3c at 333, and Waste Management NZ up 2c at 610.
- NZPA
<EM>NZ stocks:</EM> Top 50 index creeps up
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