NZ stocks: Shares catch Wall Sreet's positive tone

12.00pm

New Zealand shares were "holding up nicely" albeit on low volume this morning, in line with a more positive Wall St today.

As of 11.30am, the NZSE-40 capital index firmed 0.5 per cent or 10.56 points to 2026.06, following a near-three point rise yesterday.

Peter Stokes, a broker with JB Were, said the market appeared to be generally short of scrip which was probably helping prices up.

Turnover by value was a low $16.9 million, with two thirds of that accounted for by Lion Nathan, Telecom and Telstra.

Lion Nathan and Telstra were pre-market trades and untraded this morning, while Telecom looked a little stronger, up 3c to 510 on $5.3 million worth of shares.

Mr Stokes said Telecom was "back on the radar" of many international investors after the Verizon selldown.

A profit warning from financial services firm Tower saw the stock actually rise 5c to 355. The company called a trading halt to reveal that its year to September results would be below market expectations, giving no explanation for the cause.

Forsyth Barr Fraer Williams broker Alan Wills said the profit warning was disappointing and there had been ample opportunity for the firm to update the market earlier.

Tower's shares will remain on hold until the board considers the results on Friday after which it plans to release further details.

Banking stock Westpac rose 25c to 1510 after announcing a record annual net profit in New Zealand of $614 million, boosted by a one-off gain of $105 million from the sale of its AGC business.

Media stock INL was shaping up for a second positive day, up 3c to 308 after yesterday's 5c rise. The company told its annual meeting yesterday that its 66-per cent owned Sky TV investment would be profitable in fiscal 2004.

Another good performer of late, the two Fisher & Paykel stocks, were up again ahead of their half year results next week. The appliance unit was up 9c to 1119 after touching a fresh high of 1120, while its healthcare sister was up 20c to 1132.

Fletcher Building was up 3c to 305 on light volume as it recovered from an 8c dividend. Brokers said it had broken through the critical $3 barrier and was being re-rated upwards by the market.

So far rises are outweighing falls 38 to 14 on 99 stocks traded.

On Wall St, upbeat comments from a top executive at IBM gave tech shares a lift, but fears about upcoming economic data lurked behind the market's positive tone.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 58.47 points or 0.7 per cent to 8427.41, while the Nasdaq composite ended up 26.05 points or 2 per cent to 1326.59, and the broader S&P 500 index closed up 8.55 points or 0.97 per cent to 890.69.

- NZPA