NZ stocks: Sharemarket eases in morning trade

The sharemarket eased in early trading today, after hitting an all time closing high yesterday.

By 11.35am the bellwether stock Telecom was up 1c at 589 on turnover worth $15.6 million.

In that time the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index fell 0.50 points to 2794.24 and the NZSX-All capital index fell 1.12 points to 930.81.

Among the 113 stocks traded by 11.35am, there were 32 rises and 32 falls, amounting to market turnover of $35.9 million.

Powerco rose 1c to 210 and again notched up solid turnover, worth $6.6 million. Yesterday, there were more than $10m worth of Powerco shares traded the Takeovers Panel said it considered a recent purchase of just over 1 per cent of Powerco's shares by a Prime unit may not have been in compliance with the Code.

Hallenstein Glasson jumped 20c to 355 after it today reported a net profit of $17.2 million for the year to August 1.

Tower fell 1c to 214, after announcing today it planned to merge its New Zealand operations under one chief executive. Last week the company said it would spin off its Australian wealth management business.

Air New Zealand was up 2c at 182, after taking a 7c dive yesterday as the market came to terms with the High Court's rejection on Monday of the airline's proposed alliance with Qantas.

NGC fell 3c to 307. Australia's AGL -- which is selling its controlling 66 per cent stake in NGC -- was yesterday reported as confirming the formal sales process was under way and attracting interest from a number of companies.

ANZ Bank took a 10c dive to 1935, while Westpac fell 5c to 1735. Yesterday the Government announced it was changing a tax loophole for foreign banks, which should have them shelling out $360m a year more in taxes.

Other stocks on the move by 11.35am today included: Briscoe down 4c at 133, Contact Energy up 1c at 598, Lion Nathan up 5c at 760 and Auckland International Airport up 2c at 705.

- NZPA