NZ stocks: Shares forced lower by overseas selling

The sharemarket suffered a 23 point slide today as selling pressure from overseas investors put the skids under most top stocks.

By the 5pm close the benchmark index was down 23.21 points or 0.89 per cent to 2575.90, while the NZXS all capital index was down 8.09 points or 0.92 per cent to 873.86.

JB Were institutional advisor Humphrey Sherratt, said larger overseas players had been unloading stock on the local market today.

"There's just a reasonable amount of portfolio business in the market today driving stocks generally lower across the board," he said.

Mr Sherratt said turnover today worth $92.15 million was reasonable. There were 32 rises and 74 falls among the 154 stocks traded.

He was philosophical about the benchmark index's loss.

"The New Zealand market has been a very good performer of late so we are going to have some days when we see some selling pressure coming through."

Market leader Telecom led today's retreat losing 8c to 560. Most other top stocks followed suit.

Auckland International Airport was down 5c to 656, Carter Holt Harvey was down 3c to 199, Fletcher Building was down 7c to 433, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 9c to 1271 Independent Newspapers was down 10c to 470, Sky TV was down 5c to 525, and The Warehouse was down 6c to 434.

Among the few top stocks bucking the trend were Contact Energy and Sky City.

Mr Sherratt said news yesterday that Contact had effectively guaranteed gas supply for its Taranaki combined cycle power station "for the next few years" had generated further interest from investors. Contact was up 4c to 560.

Sky City had performed well today on overseas interest in the stock Mr Sherratt said. The stock finished today's session 2c higher at 468.

Elsewhere, Restaurant Brands today said sales in the first 12 weeks of the 2004/5 year were up 0.5 per cent on a same store basis. Its shares were down 2c at 123.

ASB Securities broker Stephen Wright said investors were reacting to poor same store sales at KFC which were down 1.9 per cent over the period.

Wood processor Tenon today advised shareholders to reject Rubicon's revised $1.95 a share partial takeover offer saying it was still below independent valuer Grant Samuel's recent valuation. Tenon shares were down a cent to 191.

Shares in New Zealand Oil & Gas were down 4c at 63 after yesterday reporting "good" oil traces in a 7m column at its Pukeko-1 well in Taranaki.

Other stocks to move today included: Air NZ down a cent to 40, Cavalier down 4c to 477, Infratil down 5c to 300, Michael Hill down 3c to 585, Northland Port Corp down a cent to 267, NZX down 8c to 902, Ports of Auckland down 10c to 720, Promina down 7c to 408, Richmond down 10c to 270, Steel & Tube down 3c to 390, Toll NZ down 2c to 157, Tower down 3c to 151, TrustPower down 12c to 410, and Waste Managment down 3c to 450.

- NZPA