NZ stocks: Telecom rebounds slightly

12pm

Telecom led the market lower today but good results from Air New Zealand and Auckland Airport provided some relief.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 capital index had bounced off 1-1/2 year lows, down 3.41 points or 0.18 per cent at 1871.97, on turnover of 13.95 million stocks valued at $47.61 million.

Telecom recovered slightly during the morning after opening down 6c at 420, its lowest since October 2001 when it briefly touched 413. Prior to that, it last traded at current levels in July 1993.

By 11.30am Telecom was down 1c at 425.

Gareth Stythe of JB Were said weak markets were behind Telecom's lows this year and in 2001.

"It's nothing fundamental about the company, it's more international concerns about developments in the Middle East," Mr Stythe said.

Trading in the opposite direction was Australian rival Telstra which was up 11c at 448 despite announcing a 44 per cent drop in first-half net profit today to A$1.184 billion ($1.28 billion).

Telstra shares have rebounded from a five-year low on both sides of the Tasman yesterday.

Air New Zealand delivered a half-year result of $93.9 million today, beating expectations of about $90 million. The result boosted the share price, which rallied 2c to 53.

"The environment has been pretty good for them with a strong New Zealand dollar decreasing the cost of oil," Mr Stythe said.

The profit compared with a $376 million loss a year ago.

Auckland International Airport posted a net interim profit of $39.7 million, in line with market expectations, and gained 3c to 546.

"It's a quality company with quality assets, the future looks good. In the short term war will limit the upside ... but that's out of their control," he said.

Baycorp Advantage was punished by investors today after reporting a net loss of A$11.9 million for the first-half compared with a A$1.6 million profit in the year-ago period.

The trans-Tasman company was down 46c at a four-month low of 136 by mid-morning.

Financial services company AMP was up 5c at 803, just off yesterday's record lows, after announcing yesterday a loss of A$896 million for 2002.

Elsewhere on the market, Contact Energy was down 1c at 435, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 1c to 951 and F&P Appliances fell 4c to 966, Sky City lost 1c to 871, and Tourism Holdings shed 8c to 101 in the face of an uncertain future, despite announcing yesterday it had doubled its first half profit to $5.2 million.

Fletcher Building lost 1c to 342, Designer Textiles was down 4c at 100 on yesterday's news of a Takeovers Panel investigation, and The Warehouse lost 5c to 535.

There were 44 falls and 17 rises on the 101 stocks traded.

On Wall St the Dow Jones industrial average fell 102.52 points, or 1.30 per cent, to 7806.98; the broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 11.02 points, or 1.31 per cent, to 827.55; and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 25.31 points, or 1.90 per cent, to 1303.67.

- NZPA