NZ stocks: Market charts weak recovery after 14-month low

12.00pm

New Zealand shares started out the day in positive territory, as the top 40 recovered from a brief slump to a 14-month low yesterday.

During yesterday's session, the NZSE-40 hit an intraday low of 1912.94 -- its lowest point since October 2001. But at 11am today the index was up 5.15 points to 1926.05 on moderate turnover worth $25 million.

Wall St was also looking a little healthier, after disc maker Maxtor boosted its fourth-quarter outlook due to strong sales of new products.

One broker put yesterday's top 40 slump down to weaker confidence in the global economy but Sam Macdonald of Direct Broking disagreed.

"I don't think it's a weak global outlook, I think it's our current market environment at the moment ... The market's going through a very quiet patch and it'll be like this through until the New Year, unfortunately."

Today's most active stock was Auckland Airport, with pre-market trade worth $9.5 million changing hands. The stock has jumped 6c to 528.

Telecom was down 4c at 454 on $5.6 million turnover. It is 4c off its year low.

Tranz Rail surged 8c to 101 as the market rewarded Tranz Rail's decision to put its Wellington rail network up for tender after talks with the local regional council failed.

Tranz Rail rights, which are on their last day of trading, bounced 7c to 25, a 39 per cent rise.

Other moves included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, up 10c to 1005; Fletcher Building, up 7c to 337; Carter Holt up 3c to 175; Sanford up 6c to 490; and Westpac NZ, down 5c to 1425.

Restaurant Brands gained 6c to 142 after yesterday reporting that its third quarter sales were up 10 per cent on the previous year. The stock is 9c shy of its year low of 133.

"The market's been concerned about the costing structure for Restaurant Brands and may have been just slightly wary of the Australian operation, but it certainly appears that the business is going very well," said Mr Macdonald.

Independent News Ltd also rose 8c, hitting the $3 mark, as sentiment towards the stock changed following an improved profit forecast last week.

Overall, there have been 32 rises and 18 falls on 90 stocks traded so far.

On Wall St, stocks snapped out of a weak spell, with the Dow Jones industrial index closing up 99.34 points (1.17 per cent) to 8572.75, and the Nasdaq up 23.39 points (1.71 per cent) to 1390.53.

- NZPA