NZ stocks: Telcos inflate volume as retail streak ends

Hefty offmarket trading in Telecom and its Australian rival Telstra gave the New Zealand sharemarket an artificial boost yesterday.

The NZSE-40 index closed down 3.21 points at 2072.77 on solid turnover worth $86 million - $26 million of that in Telecom and $34 million in Telstra.

Telecom closed up 2c at $4.99 and Telstra was steady at $6.50.

"Outside of a couple of large crossings it was a pretty light volume day," ABN Amro Craigs retail adviser Nigel Scott said.

"Five million odd Telstra shares changed hands before the market opened and three million Telecom were put through in a crossing through the day and nothing else really hit the million mark."

Last week's star performer, Briscoe Group, dropped 8c to $2.04 as the profit hawks swooped in.

David Fergusson of Greenslades said there was some feeling that Briscoe was over-valued but he did not think yesterday's fall was too significant.

"There was very keen volume interest most of last week ... a lot of people jumped into it as it was rising up, so there seems to be no particular reason apart from a little bit of profit-taking."

The Warehouse, another retailer to make a strong showing last week, was down 9c at $7.30.

Carter Holt Harvey slipped 3c to $1.87, Ports of Auckland lost 5c to $6.40, Contact Energy fell 2c to $3.82, Sanford fell 10c to $5.50 and United Networks closed down 15c at $8.05 on light volume.

Fletcher Building lifted 3c to $2.84 after an ASB Bank survey indicated rising house prices had not yet come to the end of their cycle.

Auckland International Airport added 5c to $4.39.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 2c at $9.47 and its Healthcare cousin added a cent to $9.91.

Sky City was up 5c at $5.80, Baycorp Advantage rose 2c to $5.80 and Sky TV added 5c to $4.55.

Genesis Research, named in a weekend media report as a company ripe for takeover, jumped 23c to $2.98 in the morning session and closed up 14c at $2.89.

ABN Amro's Nigel Scott said that report had little foundation.

Guinness Peat Group was steady at $1.89 after apple exporter Enza's independent directors recommended GPG's $57 million takeover offer.

There were 43 rises and 43 falls among the 145 stocks traded.

"I think the market's moved around on some very light Monday volume today," Scott said.

"Because we've had short weeks in the past few weeks it takes a little while to get momentum. Also, post March 31 - that's balance date for a lot of people - investors are concentrating on one or two other things before starting to sort out their portfolios again."

* The New Zealand dollar took a tumble yesterday as it slid through a technical support level.

At 5pm, the kiwi traded at 43.45USc compared with Friday's close of 43.82c.

Dealers said the large range, from 43.70USc to 43.27USc, was because the kiwi's had fallen through a technical barrier of 43.50USc.

The lack of demand was put down to overseas nervousness about global growth, partly due to Middle East tension and partly to weaker than expected US payroll and unemployment figures.

"The market's long and wrong," said one dealer. "The next key area is 43.20USc - if it holds there we will get a bounce."

But the dealer said it could be also argued that the poor US figures could work in New Zealand's favour. A weaker greenback meant interest rates were less likely to rise in the US, making New Zealand and Australia's rates more attractive.

- NZPA