NZ stocks: Prices flat as Aussie, Auckland investors return

12:00 pm

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat this morning, as investors drifted back to work following yesterday's Auckland and Australian holidays.

The benchmark NZSE-40 was up 0.69 of a point at 2122.11 by 11am, on turnover of a mere $12 million.

"It's very, very quiet," DF Mainlan d's Greg Arnott said.

Market leader Telecom led the turnover tables by value, with shares worth $2 million changing hands by mid morning. The stock was up 3c at 546.

Telecom said today it has hooked up 100,000 customers to its 027 digital mobile phone network in its first six months of operation.

Carter Holt Harvey, the second-largest stock, was down 4c at 192 -- a move Mr Arnott attributed to profit-taking after its recent rally.

Elsewhere in the market, Bendon slipped a cent to 188, Contact Energy was down 8c at 370, Sky City fell 2c to 608 and Pacific Retail slipped 4c to 220.

On the upside, the Fisher and Paykel stocks recouped some of yesterday's losses, with Healthcare up 10c at 1490 and Appliances up 20c at 990. Briscoe Group added 4c to 178, Fletcher Building was 2c higher at 296, Sky TV was up 5c at 430 and The Warehouse added 2c to 670.

Rises outnumbered falls by 35 to 29 among the 107 stocks traded so far.

"There is really not much to report. The Australian market was shut yesterday as well, so some of these prices were ramped up a penny or two yesterday on very thin volume.

"We're probably just seeing those prices steady back to where they were on Friday, with everybody back in the market," Mr Arnott said.

The US market provided few leads .

"It is a pretty lacklustre day there too. They have been in and out of the red and green all day."

At the close, US stocks eked out gains amid lingering questions over the strength of an anticipated economic recovery, one day ahead of this year's first meeting of the US Federal Reserve.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average edged up 25.67 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 9865.75, propped up by auto giant General Motors Corp. The broad S&P 500 Index shed 0.22 of a point, or 0.02 per cent, to 1133.06.

The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index rose 6.22 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 1943.92.

- NZPA