NZ stocks: Mixed bag on quiet sharemarket

6.45pm - By SIMON LOUISSON

The Ides of March held no apparent portents for share traders today and stocks had a mixed session on light turnover.

"In general, the market was a bit soft, volumes were light -- a reasonably typical Monday with Fisher & Paykel Appliances standing out as bucking the trend," said UBS Warburg's Richard Leggat.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index dropped 10.37 points, or 0.41 per cent to 2504.21 and the NZSX-40 capital index fell 15.21 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 2284.25. Total turnover was worth $75.7 million. Of the 146 stocks traded, there were 52 rises and 46 falls.

Best performer was Fisher & Paykel Appliances which stretched another 13c up to a new high of 453. Brokers said investors appeared comfortable with the profit upgrade and were keen to get into the stock before it went ex its special 21cps dividend next week -- proceeds from the sale of its 19.3 per cent stake in Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.

The stock has risen 19 per cent since announcing the sale of the stake in conjunction with a profit upgrade earlier this month, and it is up 90 per cent on a year ago.

One stock to have even outperformed Appliances this year, Mooring Systems, added another 45c to 335 today on quite good turnover of 52,945. The stock rose 15 per cent and is up 81 per cent this year.

The hardest hit stock today was Infratil which took a 10c tumble to 260 after it announced its 67 per cent owned subsidiary, Glasgow Prestwick International Airport would be "materially below expectations". It said profit at the Ryanair airport would fall 10 per cent to £4.5 million ($12.67 million).

Also pressing on Infratil is that warrant holders have to stump up with $1.40 cash in 10 days to convert them to shares. The warrants dropped 12c to 118.

AMP found its way to 600, up 8c, on light turnover as it continued to recover in the wake of its result this month.

Another stock attempting to recover, The Warehouse, rose 3c to 448.

Market leader Telecom, which finished last week on a 34 month high, fell back 3c to 587. Mr Leggat said it eased on profit taking after a very strong run. There was solid turnover worth $35.3 million.

Fishing company Sanford, mulling a merger with privately held Sealord because of problems in the industry, fell 30c to 480 on low turnover.

Carter Holt Harvey fell back 5c to 193, in response to flows according to Mr Leggat.

Sky City continues to yo-yo, falling 9c today to 437.

There were a number of stocks ex-dividend. INL fell 9c to 471 after shedding a 6.4cps dividend; NGC fell 7c to 228 after losing its 8.5c dividend; Waste Management fell 7c to 420 on losing its 8.3c dividend and Wrightson fell 4c to 119 after losing its 2.5c dividend.

Cavalier, which announced its long-serving finance officer Wayne Chung would take over from chairman designate Alan James as managing director, welcomed his appointment with a 4c rise to 501.

Contact Energy lost 4c to 512 while TrustPower rose 6c to 700.

Some Australian-listed stocks fared well -- Lion Nathan rose 7c to 687, Westpac NZ rose 5c to 1905, Westfield rose 10c to 419 and ANZ rose 5c to 2170.

Nuplex rose 4c to 468, Sky TV fell 10c to 510, GRD fell 6c to 214, Auckland Airport fell 5c to 648 and Baycorp Advantage fell 5c to 310.

- NZPA