NZ stocks: NZSE holds ground in weak trade

The sharemarket ended not far from where it began yesterday, with its moves into positive territory led by Telecom.

Nathan Lewis, of Macquarie Equities New Zealand, said a bounceback in European telco stocks overnight on Wednesday helped to give the local market a hand up.

The NZSE-40 closed up 15.97 points at 2059.98.

Turnover was fairly modest at 49.23 million stocks valued at $99.76 million.

Rubicon, which shed 1c to 43c, again topped turnover by volume, with 18.95 million stocks changing hands valued at $8.15 million. Telecom, up 11c at $5.94, had turnover of $48.11 million.

"There was another quietish tone to the day, perhaps a little bit more positive with ... telcos especially in Europe doing all right," said Mr Lewis.

"A bit of a bounceback helped Telecom's rally, although it did pull back off its highs (of $6.04), so that could be a slight negative.

"Outside Telecom, the same sort of stocks as Wednesday did well, continuing the theme with the finance stocks and the Carter Holts and Fletcher Buildings - the stocks that are doing well from the rate cut from Australia."

Carter Holt Harvey closed up 1c at $1.80, AMP gained 46c to $25.73, Contact Energy was up 4c at $2.95, Montana rose 8c to $4.08, The Warehouse was up 10c at $5.90 and Tranz Rail gained 15c to $3.90.

On the downside, UnitedNetworks lost 35c to $8.65, Sky City lost 5c to $9.15, Sanford was down 10c at $6.20 and Lion Nathan shed 5c to $5.25 as profit-takers moved in.

Sky TV finished down 5c at $3.45.

"[The move] was nothing huge. It hasn't really followed the currency down as of late and maybe it's a bit of catch-up. It is only 5c in a stock that basically trades in a 5c spread," Mr Lewis said.

Air New Zealand finished in positive territory, with the As up 3c at $1.05 and the Bs rising 5c to $1.50.

Investors will be watching rival Qantas New Zealand, in talks with unrelated Australia-based Qantas Airways.

"In the last few days Air NZ [Bs] have bounced around this $1.50 level," said Mr Lewis.

"If their competitor inside New Zealand is not doing very well then that has to be a positive, but if it means that Qantas NZ gets taken out by Qantas Australia, you'd have to imagine that would make them stronger ... which could then be a negative for Air NZ."

Steel and Tube - 50 per cent owned by OneSteel - has applied to the Commerce Commission to buy the steel business of newly independent company Fletcher Building.

Steel and Tube gained 1c to $1.51 and Fletcher Building was 2c higher at $2.35.

Rises outnumbered falls 56 to 43 on the 141 stocks traded.

* The dollar built on Wednesday's rally as its Australian counterpart gained and the mighty greenback had an off-day.

But the Australasian currencies cannot yet confidently wave goodbye to their historic lows.

The kiwi dollar finished at 40.82USc (40.40USc at Wednesday's close).

- NZPA