NZ stocks: Auckland Airport result highlight of quiet market

12.00pm

Auckland International Airport's annual result, coming in at the higher end of expectations, was the highlight at the start of a quiet session.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 capital index was down 2.93 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 2057.75, on turnover of 6.36 million stocks valued at $17.32 million.

Auckland Airport was unchanged at 408 today after reporting a net profit of $71.5 million, as international arrivals insulated the company from fallout of the September 11 attacks and Air New Zealand's financial woes.

"It was what everyone was looking at this morning," Andrew Kelleher of ASB Securities said.

"At this stage the share price ... has been higher (to 418), as there appear to be a few sellers around. It seems to have been received relatively favourably at this stage, but a bit more analysis needs to be done on the numbers," Mr Kelleher said.

Shares in Auckland Airport's major customer Air NZ were down 1c today at 59 following news of two incidents involving wing parts falling off planes.

Acting Prime Minister Michael Cullen said today he was "fairly worried" about the airline's international reputation because of the incidents.

Accident authorities are investigating the cause of the latest incident -- on Friday when a section of wing flap fell into Manukau Harbour shortly after an Air NZ Boeing 747 left Auckland airport. Six days earlier a wing flap fell from a plane into a Manukau carpark.

Of importance this week, The Warehouse releases its annual result on Friday.

"It's reasonably quiet today, given that offshore markets had a fairly quiet day on Friday," Mr Kelleher said

The US markets are closed on Monday, US time, for Labour Day holiday, which will mean trading is quiet in other markets.

Rail operator Tranz Rail plummeted 15c to a fresh low of 160, building on lows last week of 176 on what the company attributed to market rumours.

Ahead of its annual result on September 12, Tranz Rail gave assurances last week that its profit forecasts remained on track, but said it was considering a capital raising exercise.

The company said it was at risk of a credit downgrade from Standard & Poor's, and was in talks with its bankers.

Guinness Peat Group was down 1c at 174 after the Takeovers Panel said GPG's partial takeover offer of 75c a share for Fletcher Challenge spin-off Rubicon may not comply with the Takeovers Code.

Elsewhere on the market, The Warehouse gained 3c to 730, BIL International was up 1c at 65, Baycorp Advantage rose 5c to 440, Sky City casinos was up 6c at 705, and Tourism Holdings, which announced the sale of its Treble Cone skifield was finalised, gained 3c to 94.

Market leader Telecom lost 4c to 502, and Australian telco Telstra was down 2c at 568, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 1c at 965, and Trustpower lost 5c to 345.

There were 38 rises and 24 falls on the 109 stocks traded.

In the US on Friday, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average ended with a loss of 7.49 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 8663.50; the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index sagged 1.73 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 916.07; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 20.86 points, or 1.56 per cent, to 1314.91.

- NZPA