NZ stocks: Sharemarket up slightly after low opening

12.35 pm

The New Zealand sharemarket opened lower today amid more quiet trading and despite a better performance on most world sharemarkets overnight.

Most of the markets - except Tokyo - posted gains, after sharp falls earlier in the week.

The home market, however, improved slightly as trading progressed.

At 11am the NZSE-40 index stood at 2042.01 - up 1.31 points - or 0.06 per cent - from an opening 2036.03.

The NZSE-SCI capital index was 13.91 points - or 0.26 per cent - higher, at 5437.05 and up from the opening 5425.93.

Turnover at 11am was 8.02 million shares, worth $22.92 million and of the 106 traded, 32 rose and 28 fell.

"Things were pretty quiet at the opening," John Rattray, chief of institutional dealing at J P Morgan Chase said.

"I think the market's done quite well to be up, with a slight rebound for Telecom."

There was also interest in Air New Zealand A and B shares, he said.

At 11am, Air NZ's domestic A shares were 7c lower at 114 and the freely held B shares had shed 24c to 139, after being pushed to eight week highs the day before. Turnover was 672,086 for the As and 725,032 for the Bs.

Singapore Airlines is poised to lift its stake in Air New Zealand after edging out Qantas Airways in a sharp battle for control of the national flag carrier.

Air NZ has rejected a takeover bid by Qantas and will ask the government to allow Singapore Airlines to "substantially increase" its shareholding in the company.

Market heavyweight Telecom - which has a 23 per cent weighting in the Top 40 index - was 9c higher at 546 and at 11am topped turnover with 1.13 million shares, worth $6.13 million.

Telstra was 9c weaker at 686 on volume of 256,750 shares worth $1.75 million.

Fisher and Paykel was 5c higher at 1115, on turnover of 135,157 shares worth $1.56 million.

Brierley Investments was 4c lower at 63 and power company, Natural Gas Corp, lost a couple of cents to 98. Speculation is mounting that beleaguered electricity company might sell its Christchurch customer base to Meridian Energy.

PDL Holdings was unchanged at 1000, as was Fletcher Challenge spin-off, Rubicon at 63.

Fletcher Building was a cent higher at 230, Fletcher Forests preference shares were a cent lower at 29 but the company's main shares were steady at 30.

Richmond was steady at 240. New Zealand's largest meat exporter has written to its farmer suppliers in an urgent bid to stop them sending livestock to another processor because of the arrival of PPCS on its share register.

Auckland International Airport was 3c lower at 370, Lion Nathan was 6c higher at 530 and Montana Group lost a cent to 480.

British drinks group, Allied Domecq, wants its rival, Lion Nathan, to be forced to forfeit its entire 62 per cent stake in Montana.

Pay TV operator Sky TV rose 5c to 345 and part owner, Independent Newspapers gained a cent to 361.

Infratil was a cent lower at 142 and wood-products firm, Carter Holt Harvey, was a cent lower at 174.

The Warehouse rose a cent to 566, Contact Energy gained 3c to 294 and Waste Management was steady at 389.

Among other moves, drinks company Frucor picked up a couple of cents to 157, casino operator Sky City was steady at 1090, financial-services company Tower was 2c higher at 520, AMP shed 35c to 2545 and Baycorp was rose a cent to 1206.

Stocks rose modestly on Wall Street on Tuesday when optimism drawn from Oracle's quarterly results battled with the market's chronic economic pessimism, although the bears prevailed among blue-chips.

The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index rose 4.03 points - or 0.20 per cent - to close at 1992.66, the Dow Jones average index of 30 industrials fell 48.71 points - or 0.46 per cent - to 10,596.67 and the broader, Standard and Poor's 500 composite index rose 4.15 points - or 0.34 per cent, to 1212.58.

- NZPA