NZ stocks: Shares creep up after offshore revival

12.00pm

Optimism on Australian and American markets yesterday appeared to spill over into the New Zealand sharemarket this morning.

Just after 11am, the NZSE-40 capital index was up 3.47 points to 2002.99 on a low $18.2 million turnover.

The volatile Australian market closed up 2.2 per cent last night, driven by several buybacks and company results.

New Zealanders, who have been staying on the sidelines until the company reporting season got under way, showed some support with the Top 40 index rising 1 per cent last night.

But they were still acting pretty cautiously, ABN Amro Craigs retail equities adviser Nigel Scott said.

"Overall, just looking at the volumes, the initial order flow remains quiet ... Markets just don't turn, they've got to have confidence in sentiment and it's just going to take a while.

"Currencies can only be called steady. It has been a pretty volatile week with (the kiwi dollar trading at) 45c to the USD, so maybe New Zealand's looking at a bottom range of US44c now and we've come back a little bit against the aussie, so that makes the aussie stocks a little bit more valuable."

One stock to watch this morning was retail giant the Warehouse, which bounced 17c, or 2.4 per cent, to 727 yesterday after announcing a 10.8 per cent increase in fourth quarter sales. It was up a cent to 728 this morning.

Electricity lines leader UnitedNetwork, which is looking for a buyer for its assets or the whole business, was down 3c to 910, and Auckland Airport was up 5c to 416, regaining the ground it lost this week after the Commerce Commission recommended price controls on the airport's profits.

Tranz Rail also appeared to be regaining its footing, up 8c to 206 after plunging to an all-time low of 190 earlier this month. The company recently opened its books to allay fears about the time it was taking to restructure the company towards freight.

Among the leaders, Telecom was steady at 485, Carter Holt Harvey was up 1c to 180 and Fletcher Forests topped the turnover by volume, with preference shares up a cent to 23 on 2.7 million shares traded. Ordinary shares were up by the same amount on 1.4 million shares traded.

Waste Management shot up 4c to 316 at 11.45am, after posting a $6.9 million net after tax interim profit, compared with $6.7 million in the same period last year.

The Auckland-based waste collection and treatment company declared a dividend of 2.5 cents per share, payable on September 6.

So far there have been 36 rises and 22 falls on 103 stocks traded.

On Wall St, markets rose for the second day as investors rallied late in the session, angling for beaten-down stocks and buoyed by a positive report about consumer credit.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 182.06 points, or 2.2 per cent, at 8456.15, after rising 2.87 per cent a day earlier.

The broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index was up 17.2 points, or 2 per cent, at 876.77, while the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 21.35 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 1280.90. The Nasdaq leapt more than 3 per cent at the open after snagging a gain of more than 4 per cent on Tuesday.

- NZPA