NZ stocks: Sharemarket ignores offshore volatility

12pm

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat today, ignoring the volatile trading offshore overnight as investors tried to make sense of reports from Iraq.

By mid-morning the benchmark NZ50 gross index was up 3.68 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 1905.75, and the NZSE-40 capital index was up 0.01 per cent at 1884.99.

Retailer Briscoe Group was knocked down 17 per cent to open down 39c at 190, despite announcing a 35 per cent rise in first-half profit to $23.6 million.

Andrew Kelleher of ASB Securities said the market had been expecting a result about $3 million higher, and the punishment meted out to the company was consistent with that for other stocks which had disappointed.

"It was a company that was trading at levels with a fair bit of growth built into it, and it disappointed.

"There was an expectation it would make a certain amount of money this year, and that calls into question if it will make the same amount of money going forward," Mr Kelleher said.

Other falls included Fletcher Building, down 5c at 350, on the back of rising interest rates and its increased exposure to the Australian economy, which was showing signs of a slowdown.

Auckland Airport fell 2c to 525, Restaurant Brands lost 2c to 135, Telstra was down 3c at 440, Carter Holt Harvey lost 1c to 174, casino company Sky City was down 3c at 820, and Tower shed 1c to 195.

Tranz Rail was down 4c at 101 after credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's gave it a fortnight to improve its financial position or face a ratings downgrade.

Mr Kelleher said it was unsurprising that the New Zealand market was steady despite the start of hostilities in Iraq because the local market was rarely as volatile as those offshore.

Market leader Telecom was up 6c at 432, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 3c to 934 and F&P Appliances gained 1c to 954, Baycorp Advantage gained 3c to 142, Contact Energy was up 3c at 453, and infrastructure investor Infratil rose 5c to 160.

There were 32 falls and 23 rises on the 95 stocks.

Turnover was light, with 8.78 million stocks traded at the open, valued at $21.84 million.

On Wall St stocks rose in volatile trade on Thursday, giving the blue-chip Dow and the S&P 500 their first seven-day rallies since August 2000, as investors bet that the US-led war on Iraq will be over swiftly.

The market gyrated between gains and losses throughout the session before ending on higher ground.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average ended with a gain of 21.15 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 8286.60, after skidding almost 135 points earlier, and the broad Standard and Poor's 500 index eked out a rise of 1.82 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 875.84.

- NZPA