NZ stocks: Exchange standout on quiet sharemarket

Trading was light on the New Zealand sharemarket today but it managed to shrug off a string of companies going ex-dividend to end in positive territory.

By 5pm the NZSX-50 gross index was up 4.62 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2366.217. However, the NZSX-40 capital index was down 9.61 points, or 0.436 percent, to 2193.40.

Turnover was $69.2 million, light "even for a Monday", one broker said.

The standout performer was the NZ Stock Exchange itself, soaring to a new high of 560, up 10c.

"It's undervalued," said Richard Burton, a broker with Forsyth Barr Frater Williams. "People are realising how much it can make, it's got a monopoly (and) an ungeared balance sheet."

The market also got a filip from Auckland Airport which rose 11c to 685, in the wake of record passenger numbers announced last week.

Benchmark stock Telecom accounted for almost half the total turnover, dropping a cent to 510 on $33 million worth of shares. Telecom was finding its level after easing back from a period of resurgence, said one broker.

Telecom also confirmed this morning it plans to restructure its Australian operations, putting AAPT and Telecom New Zealand Australia into a single business unit and trimming its workforce.

Elsewhere company news was sparse and the index was held up by a number of solid medium-sized stocks.

They included Sky City up 3c to 463, Ports of Auckland up 5c to 815, Ports of Tauranga up 6c to 410, Waste Management up 2c to 392, Westpac up 7c to 1707, GPG up 3c to 187, F&P Appliances up 4c to 390 and Fletcher Building up 3c to 399.

On the downside, Sky TV slid 10c to 500 as INL confirmed its takeover bid for the pay TV company had failed and that it would make a capital return to its shareholders of $340 million. INL was down 2c to 488.

Mining concern GRD fell 15c to 210, Contact Energy fell 17c to 528 after paying out a 17.5c dividend, and fishing company Sanford dived 49c to 505 -- more than its 12c ordinary and 20c special payout.

Others going ex-dividend included Mainfreight (down a cent to 135 after paying out 3cps); Kiwi Income (down 4c to 104 after a dividend of 3.77cps); Powerco (down 4c to 179 after pyaing 7.2cps); Trustpower (down 4c to 601 after paying 17cps); and Hallenstein Glasson (down 13c to 285 after paying 9.5cps).

There were 148 stocks traded with 54 falls and 46 rises.

US markets gave the New Zealand markets little direction -- on Friday stocks fell after a report showing surprisingly soft US jobs growth and a disappointing outlook from Intel Corp curbed optimism over the strength of the economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 68.14 points, or 0.69 percent, at 9,862.68 . The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended off 8.22 points, or 0.77 percent, at 1,061.50.

- NZPA