NZ stocks: Market drifts lower

12.00pm

The sharemarket continued to drift down this morning, stifled by lacklustre performances from its top stocks.

At 11.35am today, the benchmark NZX-50 gross index was down 6.81 points at 2686.73, while the NZX-All capital index had fallen 2.25 points to 903.62.

Bellwether stock Telecom fell 1c to 586c by 11.35am, on turnover worth $14 million.

Total market turnover by 11.35am was worth $27.1 million. Of the 121 stocks traded there were just 16 rises and 52 falls.

Contact was unchanged at 577, following reports Malaysia's Genting is not interested in bidding for the 51 per cent stake in the company which is up for sale by the US-based Edison Mission Energy. Genting was reported to have hired an adviser for a possible bid on Edison's Asian and Australasian assets, not including Contact.

Fletcher Building continued to slip, down 3c to 477, on top of a 32c fall yesterday. The falls ended a strong run for the stock earlier in the week which saw it rise 23c in two sessions.

Carter Holt Harvey was unchanged at 203, after news that up to 50 permanent staff at its Tasman mill in Kawerau could be made redundant as a result of the company's decision to take over maintenance services provided by Norske Skog.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances fell 7c to 443. Yesterday the company announced around 30,000 of its "dish drawers" dishwashers may be affected by a fault that could cause parts to melt.

Other stocks on the move this morning included: Michael Hill Jeweller up 4c at 593, Nuplex up 4c at 539, Infratil down 6c at 296, TeamTalk down 5c at 245, Hallenstein Glasson down 5c at 315 and The Warehouse down 4c at 410.

- NZPA