NZ stocks: Market tiptoes back and forth

12.00pm

The sharemarket tiptoed back and forth today in a quiet morning session with little corporate news about to give a firm directional lead, a broker said.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 was up 1.65 points at 2619.94, while the NZSX-All capital index was down 0.33 of a point at 877.46.

Market heavyweight Telecom was down 1c at 562.

There was $10.7 million worth of Telecom shares traded, about 35 per cent of the $30.5 million on NZX so far today.

This morning, Telecom said it would invest $58 million on the rural telecommunications network in the next financial year.

The money would be spent on rural phone lines, mobile coverage and expanding broadband coverage.

ASB Securities broker Andrew Kelleher said trade on NZX was slow this morning and there were few standout stocks.

Telecom's share price movement could be pinned to the ebb and flow of the market, he said.

"I suppose we're taking a lead from offshore where everything was relatively positive overnight," Mr Kelleher told NZPA today.

Just Water International shares, which are listed on the New Zealand Alternative Exchange (NZAX), were up 2c at 68.

The shares -- issued at 50c -- were sought after by investors yesterday and traded in the 62c to 68c band.

An oversubscribed initial public offering (IPO) of 25 per cent of Just Water raised $8.25 million. It was the first IPO on the NZAX market.

Mr Kelleher described Just Water as a "beautiful little IPO" that had been well received by investors.

"I suspect we might even see at 70c today," he said, noting the firm's niche focus was partly behind its IPO success.

On the main board, shares on the move included: Allied Farmers down 5c at 170, Austral Pacific up 5c at 305, Contact Energy up 6c at 582, Dorchester up 10c at 275, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 2c at 450, F&P Healthcare up 3c at 1299, Lion Nathan up 5c at 736, TrustPower up 5c at 425, and Wrightson up 1c at 153.

There were 37 rises and 32 falls among the 122 stocks traded so far this morning.

- NZPA