NZ stocks: Share prices little changed in quiet trading

12.10 pm

The New Zealand sharemarket drifted in listless early trading today, with no new factors to show it direction.

The NZSE-40 capital index had firmed 1.47 points to 2042.09 just after 11am, with overall rises outweighing falls by 28 to 26 among the 101 stocks traded. Turnover was 9.9 million shares worth $21.3 million.

"It is dead square. There is no real fresh driver at the moment," David Price of Credit Suisse First Boston said.

"Offshore markets were fairly settled overnight and it is very quiet."

Montana, which had slipped 4c in early morning trading, was 1c ahead at $4.80 after Lion Nathan announced it would not make a partial offer for the winemaker.

But it is expected to make a full takeover offer at $4.80 - matching the price of Allied Domecq's takeover bid which is conditional on getting 50 per cent control.

The British liquor group currently has 27 per cent and Lion has 43 per cent after being forced to sell down 19 per cent.

After completing its selldown at $4.65 a share on Wednesday, Allied complained because there had been a share price surge just before the transactions. But the Stock Exchange's Market Surveillance Panel said today there was no basis for Allied's complaint.

Financial information company Baycorp, soon to merge with Australia's Data Advantage, shed 5c to 1325 this morning in the wake of recent gains and reporting a 71 per cent lift in its annual profit to $26.91 million yesterday.

Among other leaders, Telecom gained 3c to 509, Air New Zealand A shares added 1c to 108, Auckland Airport shed 2c to 368, Fisher and Paykel lost 5c to 1285 and Fletcher Building eased 1c to 257.

Technology stock Advantage, which reported a net loss of $65.9 million for the June year today, slumped 9c to 43.

The NZSE-SCI index of smaller stocks firmed 1.06 points to 5575.66.

On Wall Street, a late-day recovery pushed that market higher.

US inflation numbers leave the door open for more interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, but investors focused more on the economy's weakness and sliding corporate profits.

The technology-laden Nasdaq index rose 11.43 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 1930.32, after sinking as much as 2 per cent, while the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average was up 46.57 points, or 0.45 per cent, at 10,392.52, after falling as much as 0.7 per cent.

- NZPA