NZ stocks: Retail stocks provide interest on bland morning

12.00pm

Retail stocks were proving the only real feature of a fairly bland sharemarket this morning.

At 11am the NZSE-40 Capital Index was up 1 point to 2070.94 on light turnover of $26.3 million.

Market leaders appeared steady, with Telecom leading the turnover by value on $7.9 million. It was steady today on 484, as was forestry stock Carter Holt Harvey at 185.

Air NZ was the most actively traded stock, easing 1c to 52 on 2.1 million shares, after a stellar run which has seen the stock rise as much as 50 per cent in a week.

Today, the airline sent out a statement saying it was aware of the high interest and that for competitive reasons, it was keeping mum on details of its strategic operation discussed at yesterday's board meeting.

Another stock which has provided high, if negative, interest is Australian debt collection agency RMG. Today the stock fell 0.1c to 11.9 as the company announced another resignation, this time of chief executive Adrian Metri.

Yesterday RMG's chief financial officer Paul Wilkinson resigned and a former managing director Paul Cooney took over as chief operating officer and deputy chairman. The stock has fallen 5.1c or 30 per cent since Wednesday.

Other stocks included retailer The Warehouse, up 14c to a new high of 770; Briscoe up 5c to 217; Pacific Retail Group up 4c at 239; and Wakefield up 7c to 145.

Alan Wills, of Forsyth Barr Frater Williams, said retail sales figures were due out next Thursday, with the expectation that it would be another healthy result, "so the retailers are certainly in favour at the moment."

On the downside, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 10c to 930, Contact Energy was down 1c to 411, and Hallenstein Glasson down 4c to 256.

Rises just outnumbered falls 24 to 23 on 105 stocks traded.

On Wall St, technology stocks took a haircut, while blue-chip stocks rose on improved manufacturing data.

The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was down 32.67 points, or 1.95 per cent, at 1,644.86 -- its lowest since October 10. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.9 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 1,084.56.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 32.24 points, or 0.32 per cent, at 10,091.87, racking up the first three-day winning streak since mid-March.

- NZPA