NZ stocks: Market down as stocks go ex-div

12.00 pm

The New Zealand sharemarket eased a tad this morning as investors indulged in a spot of profit-taking after last week's gains and as several major stocks went ex-dividend.

The benchmark NZSE-40 was down 17.54 points, or 0.85 per cent, at 2054.82 by just after 11am. Turnover totalled $50 million.

"There have been a few large stocks that have gone ex-dividend and that has driven their price down," a local broker said.

"The other reason is they had quite a strong week last week and there may be a few people just taking a few profits early on a Monday."

Stocks to go ex-dividend this morning included Baycorp (20c), Infratil (4c), Kiwi Income (5.46c) and Telecom (5c).

Of those stocks, Telecom was down 3c at 505 by mid morning, Baycorp was down 10c at 1100, Infratil was down 3c at 168 and Kiwi Income was down 5c at 95c.

Market newcomer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare shed 30c to 1800, while its poor cousin, Fisher & Paykel Appliances was down 10c at 940.

"They are still finding a level really after they listed. They had a really strong listing and now they are retreating a bit," the broker said.

In all falls outnumbered rises by 39 to 24 among the 95 stocks changing hands in morning trade.

Among the losers, Carter Holt Harvey was down 7c at 167, Fletcher Building shed 4c to 283, Pacific Retail was down 7c at 190, Lion Nathan slipped 4c to 550 and Cabletalk was down a cent at 60c.

The Warehouse was down 6c at 679 after hitting a fresh all-time high of 686 on Friday after chief executive Greg Muir said the company remained optimistic about likely Christmas sales, particularly with the agricultural and dairy sectors still performing well in the economy.

Takeover target Contact Energy was down 2c at 402 despite a report by brokerage ABN Amro that the earlier depletion of the Maui gas field will raise the energy company's value.

The situation strengthened ABN Amro's views that Contact shareholders should not sell their shares, the brokerage said in a research paper .

United States energy company Edison Mission Energy has a $4.14 takeover offer for Contact shares. It closes on February 3.

Tranz Rail was steady at 410 after announcing after the market's close on Friday it has signed off on a $33 million deal that will see it take a half share with Australia's West Coast Railway in a new company which will be formed to run the Tranz Scenic business.

On the upside, Brierley added 2c to 29c, Advantage Group was up 4c at 59c, Sky City was up 2c at 625, Tower added 4c to 512 and Wrightson was up 2c at 115.

Ports of Auckland was up a cent at 546 despite news that credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has cut its long and short-term credit ratings.

S&P cut the long-term rating to A from AA-, while the short-term rating fell to A- 1 from A- 1+.

- NZPA