NZ stocks: Shares ease on heavy volume

The New Zealand sharemarket eased almost half a per cent today on strong turnover as the top stocks put on a mixed show.

The benchmark NZSE-40 index shed 9.34 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 1966.61 on shares worth $102 million -- considered heavy for this time of the year.

Falls outnumbered rises by 69 to 35 on the 138 stocks traded, with Telecom, Sky City Entertainment, Ports of Auckland and Carter Holt Harvey among the notable losers, while Fletcher Building, Contact Energy, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and Trustpower outperformed.

Telecom shares, which make up 21 per cent of the index, closed down 6c at 441 -- close to 15-month lows of 435.

Telecom is expected to post a lower second quarter profit of about $149 million on Tuesday, compared with $161 million a year ago.

Sky City Entertainment, which raced away to fresh all time highs of 901 earlier in the week, closed down 11c at 860 as the profit hawks continued to prey on the stock.

Ports of Auckland eased 15c to 665 and Carter Holt Harvey slipped 3c to 173.

On the flipside, Fletcher Building bounded to 355 in early trading -- its highest point since May 1998 -- after official figures out today showed a surge in new dwelling consents in December drove New Zealand home building to its strongest year since 1976.

The stock closed up 5c at 354.

Contact Energy piled on 13c to 425 and Trustpower 11c to 385 as rising power prices had investors waging this year could see a repeat of the shortages of 2001 -- which means boom times for power generators.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare added 20c to 1015. The company, which is set to report its third quarter result on Valentine's Day, is viewed by brokers as a growth stock with the potential for rapid international expansion.

Forsyth Barr Frater Williams has a price target of $11.52 on the company.

The biggest loser of the day was market minnow Software of Excellence which plunged 28c, or 24 per cent, to 87c after issuing a profit warning for its March 2003 result.

That eclipsed a previous all time low of $1.15 and compares with a year high of $3.43.

The dental software company said that following a January review, it is now forecasting it will lose as much as $2.5 million in the year to March 31, against previous estimates of a break even result.

Software, which listed in December 2000 at $1 per share, has struggled to meet its international expansion aspirations and has been punished accordingly, ASB Securities broker Andrew Kelleher said.

"The fall was on light volume but it is clear that the market is not happy," he said.

In other moves Baycorp Advantage eased 4c to 218; AMP was down 19c at 1005; INL lost 7c to 303; Sky TV slipped 5c to 353; The Warehouse eased 4c to 706; Briscoe Group added 4c to 270; Fisher and Paykel Appliances was off 3c at 1013; Rubicon shed 2c to 71c; and Tranz Rail rose 3c to 136.

- NZPA