NZ stocks: Shares give up morning gains to finish flat

The sharemarket sloped to an anti-climactic finish today, giving up some respectable gains made in the morning to end flat for the day on moderate turnover.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index closed a tenth of a point higher or virtually unchanged at 2473.20, while the NZSX-40 capital index was 1.3 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 2263.57.

The NZSX-50 pushed almost 14 points higher to 2487.03 by 11.30am but it was downhill after that.

In line with the general tone of the wider market, top stock Telecom finished unchanged at 564 on turnover of $32.86 million, while the market's total turnover was worth $73.05 million with 49 stocks rising and 42 falling among the 138 traded.

Star of the session was dual listed AMP which, rose 34c or 6 per cent to 595 on turnover of $4.3 million as investors looked past the financial services company's A$5.5 billion ($6.24 billion) annual loss reported yesterday.

The loss was a write-down of its ill-starred British investments. The stock has now risen 48c since posting its result.

Forsyth Barr Frater Williams broker Suzanne Kinnaird, said the stock's "outstanding form" today showed the market had faith in the company.

"Obviously the market's taken the view that the worst is out of the way and maybe there's a decent future ahead for them."

In the same sector, Tower and Promina ended their string of gains over recent sessions with Tower falling 5c to 150 and Promina falling 5c to 400.

Commentators have attributed Tower's rise to speculation it may be a takeover target for cash rich Promina.

Peter Lynds of Direct Broking said there continued to be a fair volume of Tower shares traded today, but the question possibly now being asked was when if at all would Promina make its play.

Casino operator Sky City reflected the wider market's movement today -- rising during the morning but drifting off over the rest of the session to finish a cent lower at 450 after its recovery over recent sessions from a post result sell-off.

"It's still coming up to its dividend so I wouldn't expect it to be too weak over the next couple of weeks," Ms Kinnaird said.

But The Warehouse, which has similarly been in recovery mode, continued to rise today, finishing 4c higher at 439.

Ms Kinnaird said it appeared the company had addressed the market's concerns its Australian businesses.

"They've said that they've got options if things don't pan out the way they plan. Possibly people are a little bit more comfortable knowing that they're not going to stick in there forever if things don't start to improve."

Contact Energy continued to rise adding 3c to 519, while NGC Holdings fell 9c to 228.

Ms Kinnaird said the rise could be down to the prevalent rumour that Australia's AGL was looking at purchasing Edison Mission's majority stake in the company. NGC Holdings -- 66 per cent owned by AGL dipped by 9c to 228.

Tenon --formerly Fletcher Forests eased a cent to 134. The company today confirmed its $349 million or 52.5 cps capital payout after completing the sale of most of its forest assets.

Fishing company Sanfords was up 25c to 515, and the NZX was up 29c to 750.

Other stocks to move today included: Auckland International Airport down 3c to 662, BayCorp Advantage down 5c to 324, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 9c to 1174, Freightway up 3c to 213, Independent Newspapers Ltd down 6c to 472, NZX up 20c to 750, and Sky TV up 5c to 515.

- NZPA