NZ stocks: Market eases in holiday-shortened session

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket eased slightly today in a short but active session ahead of the Easter break.

The NZ50 gross index closed down 11.09 points, or 0.56 per cent, at 1970.33, while the top-40 index was down 0.40 per cent at 1937.39.

Turnover of 23.5 million shares worth $42 million "wasn't too bad for the day before a public holiday", Ken Allen of Direct Broking said.

Tranz Rail stole the show, recovering 7c, or 20 per cent, to 42c after a horror run this week which saw it fall to an all time low of 30c following a profit warning and credit rating downgrades.

"I think the market is trying to say that with one or two of those big sellers clearing out this week (the fall) must be coming to an end," ABN Amro Craigs retail equities adviser Nigel Scott said.

"It has been repositioned at this stage at under 50c towards retail punters ."

The broader market was soft with falls outnumbering rises by 45 to 31 among the 118 stocks traded.

Among the leaders Telecom eased 5c to 458, Auckland International Airport fell 9c to 503, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare recovered 10c to 1050, Baycorp Advantage slipped 6c to 155, Sky City was 3c higher at 813, Ports of Auckland dipped 5c to 685 and The Warehouse rose 3c to 545.

Electricity generator and retailer Contact Energy closed down 3c at 451 as profit-takers capitalised on its recent gains amid soaring power prices.

Carter Holt Harvey eased 4c to 164 despite delivering a positive first quarter result yesterday of a net $51 million profit compared with the year-ago $17 million.

"It looked like a good result but I think the market's concerned about the strike at the (Kinleith pulp) mill, and no sign of it ending in a hurry," Direct Broking's Mr Allen said.

"Until they get a positive outcome out of that, and it doesn't appear to be in the short term, the stock will still tread around these sorts of levels."

ABN Amro's Mr Scott said it was difficult to read too much into today's trading.

"Short weeks never bring a true pattern and we'll have the same next week."

On Wall St, the Dow Jones industrial average finished down 144.75 points, or 1.72 per cent, at 8257.61; the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended down 10.90 points, or 1.22 per cent, at 879.91; and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.71 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 1394.72.

In London the FTSE 100 closed 61.9 points or 1.6 per cent lower at 3854.9.

- NZPA