NZ Stocks: Sharemarket dips down during morning trading

12.15 pm

In a slight slip from Wednesday's steady close, the New Zealand sharemarket opened lower today, after poor showings on world markets overnight, where all the major ones closed with double or three-figure losses.

"Our market, although quiet, held up reasonably well early, considering the overseas weakness," James Snell at Credit Suisse First Boston said.

"There was bit of offshore trading after the Greenspan comments overnight," he said.

In Washington - in his half-yearly testimony to Congress - United States Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said the economy faced a range of hurdles that could imperil a hoped-for rebound and force the Fed to cut rates further.

At 11am on the home market, the NZSE-40 index stood at 2032.68 - down 3.54 points - or 0.17 per cent - from last night's close and down from an opening 2033.30.

The NZSE-SCI capital index, however, was 13.68 points - or 0.25 per cent - higher, at 5528.69 and up from the opening 5525.81.

Turnover at 11am was 29.29 million shares worth $35.20 million, of which Telecom provided $15.09 million, Fletcher Building $6.74 million, Fletcher Forest preference shares $6.01 million and Carter Holt $1.10 million.

Of the 101 shares traded 36 rose and 25 fell.

Market heavyweight Telecom - which has a 22 per cent weighting in the Top 40 index - was 6c lower at 504 and Telstra shed 16c to 630, on turnover of 116,225 shares worth $739,654.

With hardly any specific news on the stock, Telecom remained at the whim of regional and global concerns about the industry, brokers said.

British Telecom held its annual meeting in London on Wednesday where it said it was regaining financial health - as it got its debts under control - and forecast that the uncertain outlook in the telecom industry "would pass".

Marconi - also at its annual meeting yesterday - told shareholders that it would launch a review of its operations and vowed it would go "back to basics".

Fletcher Forests preference shares topped trading volume with 20.04 million shares and gained a cent to 30, Fletcher Forests was steady at 30 but Fletcher Building rose 7c to a fresh 2001 high of 275. It has had a solid run since de-coupling from the Fletcher group and its price has risen steadily during July.

Fletcher spin-off, forestry and biotechnology firm, Rubicon - which listed on the exchange in March - was steady at a record 77, before its $60 million share buy-back.

Since listing after the break-up of the Fletcher Challenge group in March, Rubicon's price has almost doubled from a low of 40c on debut.

Lion Nathan was unchanged at 550, as was Montana Group at 457.

Carter Holt, New Zealand's largest timber and building-products company, was steady at 172 after on Tuesday posting a net loss of $34 million for the first quarter - down from a $90 million profit a year earlier.

Carter Holt is the second largest stock on the New Zealand market and carries a 7.00 per cent weighting on the NZSE-40 index.

Auckland International Airport was a couple of cents lower at 348, Contact Energy rose a cent to 326 and Trustpower was steady at 325.

After being untraded in New York overnight, Tranz Rail was unchanged here at 406, compared with a 2001 high of 428 in March and a low of 350 in June.

Casino operator, Sky City was 5c lower at 1170, Natural Gas Corp was steady at 92 and WestpacTrust was unmoved at 1590.

Air NZ's domestic A shares were a cent higher 106 but the freely held B shares were unchanged at 139.

No new proposals were put on the table when Finance Minister Michael Cullen met Singapore International Airlines chiefs on his visit to Singapore last week.

Dr Cullen told the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association yesterday that his visit to the city was dominated by interest in SIA's move to increase its stake in Air New Zealand.

Fisher and Paykel was steady at 1270 and Brierley Investments was unchanged at 66.

Meat exporter Richmond rose 15c to 275, pay TV operator Sky TV was unchanged at 325 and part owner, Independent Newspapers, was steady at 385.

Frucor Beverages Group was 3c higher at 172 after it announced yesterday that unaudited revenues for the June year grew 27 per cent to $228.4 million.

The Warehouse rose a cent to 556, Waste Management was unchanged at 340, financial-services company, Tower, was steady at 512, AMP rose 14c to 2545 and Baycorp shed 5c to 1250.

Stocks slid on Wall Street on Wednesday after a fresh round of grim earnings reports and downbeat comments from the Federal Reserve chairman.

The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index closed with a loss of 51.15 points - or 2.47 per cent - at 2016.17, the blue-chip Dow Jones average index of 30 industrials fell 36.56 points - or 0.34 per cent - to 10,569.83 and the broader, Standard and Poor's 500 composite index shed 6.73 points - or 0.55 per cent - to 1207.71.

- NZPA