NZ stocks: Sharemarket up slightly in morning trade

12.56 pm

The New Zealand sharemarket opened higher today but amid more quiet trading - despite a sharp fall for New Zealand's largest energy retailer, Natural Gas Corp - and after mixed performances on world sharemarkets overnight.

New York, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Hong Kong rose but London, Paris and Sydney closed lower.

Shares of NGC fell 7.6 per cent after the company warned that it expected to record a net loss of up to $310 million for the year to June.

The shares fell to an all-time low of 85 shortly after the opening - from Thursday's close at 92 - before recovering slightly to trade 5c weaker at 87.

DF Mainland broker, Brett Wilkinson, said the size of the expected loss had surprised the market and further added to the woes of 66 per cent parent, The Australian Gas Light Co.

"One gets the feeling that this could be about as bad as it gets."

He said he noted that NGC's share price was down 26 per cent since the company issued a profit warning a fortnight ago.

The market improved slightly during the morning and at 11am the NZSE-40 index stood at 2042.72 - up 4.72 points - or 0.23 per cent - against an opening 2041.02.

The NZSE-SCI capital index was 11.40 points - or 0.21 per cent - higher, at 5430.52 but slightly down from the opening 5430.89.

Turnover at 11am was 6.97 million shares, worth $20.66 million and of the 97 traded, 32 rose and 23 fell.

"Our market was very quiet at the opening with only a few stocks helping to keep its head above water," Peter Stokes, senior investment adviser at J B Were said.

Going into the weekend, Mr Stokes said that after the recent tight ranges a rise - or fall - of 10 points would not be a surprise.

Sky City gained a further 10c to 1125, WestpacTrust rose a cent to 1630, Air NZ's domestic A shares were a cent lower at 110 and the freely held B shares were steady at 133, on turnover of 839,980 shares worth $1.17 million.

Singapore Airlines - planning to raise its stake in Air NZ - received a boost for the plan after Australian transport minister, John Anderson, said the government would welcome any investment by SIA that would strengthen domestic carrier Ansett - a wholly owned unit of Air NZ.

SIA eased 0.79 per cent to $S12.50 on the Singapore sharemarket on Thursday.

Share analysts were divided over which set of Air NZ's shareholders would come out the winners if its A and B share structure was abandoned.

Market heavyweight Telecom - which has a 22 per cent weighting in the Top 40 index - was 5c higher at 545 and at 11am was topping turnover with 870,200 shares, worth $4.745 million.

Telstra had picked up a cent to 681.

Fisher and Paykel rose 25c to 1150 but on low turnover.

Brierley Investments was steady at 66, PDL Holdings was unchanged at 1096 and Fletcher Challenge spin-off, Rubicon rose a couple of cents to 63.

Fletcher Building was 2c lower at 227 and Fletcher Forests preference shares were steady at 29, in line with the company's main shares.

Meat exporter Richmond was unchanged at 232, Auckland International Airport was 5c higher at 366, Lion Nathan was steady at 545 as was Montana Group at 480.

Pay TV operator Sky TV was steady at 345 as was part owner, Independent Newspapers at 375.

Infratil rose a couple of cents to 140 and wood-products firm, Carter Holt Harvey, was a cent higher at 170.

The Warehouse lost 8c to 550, Contact Energy was 4c lighter at to 285 and Waste Management was a cent higher at 386.

In other activity, drinks company Frucor was a cent lighter at 158, financial-services company Tower gained 5c to 525, AMP shed 22c to 2553 and Baycorp rose 25c to 1260.

Wall Street kicked off the first day of summer with a modest rally on Thursday.

The blue-chip Dow Jones average index of 30 industrials gained 68.10 points - or 0.64 per cent - to close at 10,715.43, the tech-rich Nasdaq composite index rose 27.52 points - or 1.35 per cent, to 2058.76 and the broader, Standard and Poor's 500 composite index gained 13.90 points - or 1.14 per cent - to 1237.04.

- NZPA