NZ stocks: Sharemarket dribbles into the black

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket eased into the black this morning at the start of a week curtailed by Anzac Day holiday on Thursday.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 capital index was up 4.05 points, or 0.20 per cent, at 2056.45 on turnover of 5.93 million stocks valued at $11.27 million. Topping turnover was Fletcher Forests' 1.50 million stocks worth $364,000.

Nigel Scott of ABN Amro Craigs said there was little corporate news during the weekend to fire up the market this morning.

"Telecom is sitting range-trading, 488 to 490. We're into a short week, a few stocks got knocked around last week, we'll just see if we get a concentration in some of the leaders this week. But with the short week you still don't see a lot happening," Mr Scott said.

Telecom was up 4c at 490, while Australian telco Telstra was down 5c at 630.

Fellow market heavyweight Carter Holt Harvey was unchanged at 185 after a good result from its US majority owner International Paper on Friday night, in contrast with Carter's $2 million drop in first quarter profit to $17 million.

"Carter Holt's result from Friday is just looked upon as the Australian housing sector going through a slower period in the second half. Also, its parent International Paper had a very good result, it looked like a lot of that came through on the cost-cutting side," Mr Scott said.

International Paper on Friday posted a net profit for the first time in nearly two years as aggressive cost-cutting helped it overcome weak demand for paper products.

The world's largest forest products company, which is in the midst of a restructuring of its business that is expected to take several years, recorded net income of $US65 million ($NZ147 million).

International Paper has now divested more than $US3 billion of non-core assets.

Last month Carter Holt announced the axing of more than half its workforce at Tokoroa's Kinleith mill to cut costs.

Elsewhere on the market, Contact Energy rose 2c to 395, Nuplex was up 2c at 317, Powerco rose 1c to 187, Sky City casino gained 1c to 595, Software of Excellence was up 5c at 270, Tranz Rail rose 2c to 385, and UnitedNetworks was up 5c at 812.

Retailers were sold down this morning with The Warehouse down 6c at 719, Briscoe Group and Hallenstein Glassons down 4c at 214 and 8c at 268 respectively; and Pacific Retail down 1c at 224.

Baycorp Advantage lost 2c to 508, Fisher & Paykel Appliances shed 10c to 910, Auckland International Airport was down 1c at 440 and Fletcher Building lost 1c to 278.

There were 25 rises and 22 falls on the 94 stocks traded.

On Wall Street on Friday the Dow Jones industrial average rose 51.83 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 10,257.11; the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index finished virtually flat, up 0.70 of a point, or 0.06 per cent, at 1125.17; and the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index shed mild gains and fell 5.60 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 1796.83.

- NZPA