NZ stocks: BIL provides only interest in lacklustre market

12.00pm

Asset trader BIL International Ltd (BIL) provided the only interest in an otherwise lacklustre New Zealand sharemarket this morning.

The stock soared 10c, or 18.5 per cent, to 64c in early trading after it said it had received an approach from an unnamed investor interested in one of its assets.

By 11am it was up 8c at 62c.

"An investor has approached BIL and expressed an interest in making an investment in certain of BIL's assets. BIL understands that the same investor has also approached a substantial shareholder to buy a block of BIL shares," the company said on Friday in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange.

This morning's rise matches an 18 per cent spike to 54.50 Singapore cents (NZ65c) on the Singapore bourse on Friday, its highest level since mid-2001.

Elsewhere in the market trading was extremely lacklustre, with the benchmark NZSE-40 index up by just 0.53 of a point at 2107.24 by 11am on turnover worth a paltry $9 million.

Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said the local market was carrying on from the slow trade seen in offshore markets on Friday.

The New York Stock Exchange clocked its slowest day of the year as investors faced renewed fears of more attacks on America and signs of economic softness.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average fell 111.82 points, or 1.09 per cent, to 10,104.26. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 13.26 points, or 1.21 per cent, to 1083.82. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index lost 36.14 points, or 2.13 per cent, at 1661.49.

US trading floors will be closed tonight for Memorial Day, and investors opted to sell stocks, wary of staying in the market with the nation on guard for potential attacks like the September 11 assaults that killed more than 3000 people.

In other local movements Air New Zealand added 2c to 58, Baycorp Advantage added 6c to 475, Briscoe Group was a cent lower at 217, Carter Holt Harvey dropped a cent to 197 and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare fell 4c to 866.

Contact Energy was 9c lower at 403 after shedding a 5.5c interim dividend and a 2.5c final dividend.

Fletcher Building added a cent to 282 while Fletcher Forests was up a cent at 26c as it awaits the outcome of the Vela brothers' bid for the Central North Island Forest Estate. Forests' preference shares were a cent higher at 25c.

INL fell 5c to 380, Restaurant Brands was down a cent at 203, Telecom dropped 2c to 508 and The Warehouse added 4c to 740.

Falls outnumbered rises by 32 to 27 among the 102 stocks changing hands so far.

- NZPA