NZ stocks: Market tiptoes higher after a quiet day's trading

The New Zealand sharemarket put in a quiet day with a marginal rise on the key indices driven by top stocks Telecom and Carter Holt Harvey (CHH), a broker said.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 3.06 points at 2648.36, while the NZSX-All capital index was up 2.05 points at 895.77.

Market heavyweight Telecom finished up 3c at 570, with its $22.5 million worth of shares traded contributing the NZX's $79.8 million turnover.

Among the 149 stocks traded were 58 rises and 47 falls.

ASB Securities broker Stephen Wright said the market was in consolidation mode today.

It was difficult to find any particular reason for the market's quiet session, he said, noting a number of factors probably contributed.

Offshore markets were "a bit" quieter, the New Zealand dollar was still in the US62c band, and investors were reassessing their options.

"Nothing dramatic has happened," Mr Wright told NZPA today.

However, share trading in Telecom and CHH -- up 2c at 215 -- helped the indices tiptoe higher.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare continued its run from mid-March, gaining 30c to close at 1310.

ABN Amro Craigs broker Matt Willis said there was some offshore merger and acquisition activity, which, given Healthcare's United States presence, could have caused the spike.

"I think maybe that's starting to hit home with investors that exporters in the medium term should look to benefit from that rate having pulled back about 10 per cent," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Wright said F&P Appliances had consolidated today, ending down 9c at 477.

In other market news, ANZ Bank shares were up 5c at 2220 after it posted a 22 per cent increase in net profit to A$1.396 billion ($1.64 billion) for the six months to March 31.

Northland Port was up 5c at 285 after announcing it had a conditional deal to sell its Port of Whangarei land and facilities for about $13.15 million.

Powerco rose 1c to 203 after posting a net profit of $55.143 million for the March year.

Independent Newspapers Ltd was up 5c at 495 after its $340 million capital return yesterday.

Shares on the move today included: AMP up 4c at 674, Guinness Peat Group down 6c at 221, Ports of Auckland down 10c at 730, The Warehouse up 8c at 448, Sky Network TV up 5c at 530, and Contact Energy down 2c at 578.

Overseas, the Dow Jones eased 28.11 points to 10,444.73, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended off 5.12 points at 1135.48, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 13.00 points to 2036.77.

- NZPA