NZ stocks: Air NZ's $160m refurbishment plan stands out in quiet trade

6.30pm

Air New Zealand's plans to spend $160 million refitting its Boeing 747 fleet held the sharemarket's attention in what was otherwise a lacklustre day's trading.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 was down 5.63 points at 2661.12, while the NZSX-All capital index was down 0.77 of a point at 894.17.

Market leader Telecom helped pull the indices lower -- it closed down 6c at 578 -- after turning over $27.9 million of the $62 million on NZX today.

Other top stocks -- Contact Energy, unchanged on 572c, and Carter Holt Harvey, static at 206c -- saw little trade.

Greenslades broker Paul Valk said the market was quiet today, albeit drifting lower, with little corporate news about to encourage trade.

He said Air NZ had grabbed the limelight when it announced the refit of its Boeing 747 fleet. The planes would get "lie-flat" seats for premium customers and personal video screens for all seats.

At 5pm, Air NZ shares were unchanged on 40c having traded $377,887 worth.

"There's good buying support at 40c (for the shares)," Mr Valk told NZPA today.

He thought some market watchers would be impressed by the airline's investment, while others would be concerned by the substantial capital outlay involved in the refit.

In other market news, shares in Sky City Entertainment were up 3c at 470 after today confirming it had paid for its 40.5 per cent stake in the Christchurch casino.

"That's just the final nail in the lid (of Sky City buying the stake from UK-based firm Aspinall)," he said.

Shares in meat processor Richmond were up 15c at 320 on the back of a profit upgrade.

The firm has flagged a September year before-tax profit of about $39 million, up from the $20 million posted last year.

Mr Valk said the announcement was perhaps a ploy to foster shareholder support in the face of PPCS' 311c a share offer to acquire the 37 per cent of Richmond it did not already own.

"It (the profit announcement) makes the PPCS offer just that little bit more interesting," Mr Valk said.

Stock exchange operator NZX was up 10c at 860, after it said on Friday it was considering selling the naming rights to the sharemarket's key indices.

Wrightson was down 15c at 138, after going ex-dividend 9 cents.

Of the 150 stocks traded, there were 56 rises and 43 falls.

Among other shares to move today were: AMP up 2c at 697, Briscoe Group down 3c at 126, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 5c at 445, Infratil up 6c at 310, Michael Hill International up 5c at 595, Nuplex up 9c at 520, Ports of Auckland down 5c at 720, Promina down 21c at 435, and Turners Auctions down 10c at 520.

Overseas, the Dow Jones fell 54.13 points, to 10,389.68, the Standard & Poor's 500 was down 4.53 points at 1136.12, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 9.90 points at 2025.47.

Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 9.1 points at 4494.1.

- NZPA