NZ stocks: Shares tick higher in quiet trade

12.00pm


The New Zealand Stockmarket's benchmark indices ticked higher on quiet trade this morning, coaxed upward by modest gains in US stocks overnight.

By 11.30am the NZSX-50 gross index was 1.26 points or 0.05 per cent higher at 2375.59, while the NZSX-40 capital index was 1.7 points or 0.08 per cent higher at 2204.71.

"It's up on the back of the Dow", Direct Broking's Ken Allen said.

"Volume is very quiet, it's a mixed bag as a result. There's not a lot of news out."

Turnover by 11.30am was $35.63 million with 31 gainers and 28 losers among the 103 stocks traded.

Lead stock Telecom gained a couple of cents on opening but quickly subsided to 509, 1c below its opening level.

Second tier stocks Fletcher Building and Contact Energy saw modest gains, with Fletcher up 3c to 397 and Contact up 2c to 535, on what an Auckland broker said was "okay volume".

"There continues to be positive feedback in terms of electricity price increases", the broker said.

"In fact the forward contracts for wholesale prices now are really pointing to a continued increase in the wholesale price which will probably flow through to retail prices. That's all positive for Contact."

Fellow electricity generator and retailer TrustPower was also on the rise, up 5c to 600, albeit on slim turnover.

Meanwhile, the broker said there was a sizeable crossing of shares in closely watched financial services group Tower this morning.

"We've seen a lot of Tower crossed this morning. The size of the line was 9.1 million at 123c, the stock last traded at 126."

By 11.30am more than 10 million Tower shares worth $12.49 million had changed hands.

Discount retailer the Warehouse was showing a healthy 7c gain to 517.

Elsewhere stocks to move by late morning included: carpetmaker Cavalier Corp down 5c to 535, Fisher and Paykel Appliances up 2c to 390, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare down 4c to 1190, Guinness Peat Group down 2c to 185, Michael Hill up 3c to 482, Sanford down 5c to 503, Sky City up 3c to 463 and Tranz Rail up a cent to 151.

On offshore markets yesterday, New York's Dow Jones industrial average rose 65 points, or 0.65 per cent, at 9987. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained nine points, or 0.85 per cent, to 1068, and the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index added 23 points, or 1.23 per cent, to 1928.

In London, the FTSE 100 share index closed down 4.1 points or 0.09 per cent at 4331.3, after being helped off its low of 4316.2 by an early 60-point rise by the US Dow Jones industrial average.

In Frankfurt, The DAX index ended at 3858.85 points, up 37.93 points, and Japan's Nikkei average index finished up 1.66 per cent or 164.58 points at 10,075.14.

- NZPA