NZ stocks: Market ends week on mildly negative note

The New Zealand sharemarket finished the week on a mildly negative note after a day of mixed trading.

At 5pm the NZSX-50 gross index was 5 points or 0.22 per cent lower at 2319.54, while the NZSX-40 capital index was 6 points or 0.28 per cent lower at 2214.75.

Turnover was an apparently healthy $127 million but Amro Craigs Equities retail advisor Bryon Burke told NZPA this was inflated by a large parcel of Telecom shares which changed hands during the session.

"Take that away and it's pretty average on the turnover front," he said.

Telecom's total turnover for the day was 14.4 million shares worth $72 million. It finished the day 4c lower at 499.

Over the rest of the market, trading was "pretty mixed" Mr Burke said.

Star performer of the day was Contact Energy which today announced a net profit for the year ended September of $118.3 million, an 11 per cent improvement on the previous year. The company also announced a final dividend of 17.5 cents taking the total fully imputed dividend for the year to 23 cents a share, 10 per cent up on the previous financial year.

Contact shares pushed to an all time high of 518 before easing back to finish 7c higher at 515.

Also on the rise were retail stocks The Warehouse and Briscoe Group which Mr Burke said had benefited from the New Zealand dollar's ongoing strength.

The Warehouse finished 2c higher at 582, while Briscoe Group ended up a cent at 181.

Fisher and Paykel Appliances was up 7c today at 1485 after yesterday losing the same amount.

Tower which has enjoyed a good string of gains in recent days eased 5c to 135, a fall Mr Burke said was likely related to weakness on the Australian market. Other dual listed stocks also eased, AMP was down 12c to 690, and ANZ Banking was down 60c to 1885.

Elsewhere, stocks to rise today included: Auckland International Airport up a cent to 685, BayCorp Advantage up 2c to 290, Cavalier Corp up 5c to 555, Dorchester Pacific Group up 8c to 213, Genesis Energy up 3c to 114, Independent Newspapers up 5c to 490, Lion Nathan up 10c to 655, NZX up 5c to 510, and Tranz Rail up 4c to 145.

Stocks to fall included Air NZ down a cent to 47, Carter Holt Harvey down 2c to 179, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 4c to 1185, Fletcher Building down 2c to 410, Ports of Auckland down 10c to 800, Promina down 8c to 370, Sky City down 2c to 924, and Telstra down 8c to 550.

There were 42 rises and 44 falls among 129 stocks traded.

- NZPA