NZ stocks: Telecom dominates sharemarket

12.00pm

Telecom dominated the sharemarket in light trading this morning as recent favourite Powerco took something of a back seat.

By 11.35am a slightly new look benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 7.09 points to 2841.49, while the NZSX-All capital index was up 1.74 points at 943.79.

ABN Amro Craigs broker Bryon Burke said Telecom and Carter Holt had buoyed an otherwise quiet market.

Telecom was up 4c to 593, while Carter Holt Harvey had risen 4c to 229.

"It might be order flows from overseas driving the two largest stocks in New Zealand with the slightly stronger dollar," Mr Burke said.

By 11.35am today, Telecom had racked up trades worth $36.4 million, in total market turnover worth $65.75 million.

Meanwhile, turnover in Powerco remained strong at $14.6 million, but had tailed off from the frenzy of the past few days.

Powerco was down 2c to 208. Australia's Prime Infrastructure has launched a $2.15 per share takeover offer for the company. A Takeovers Code exemption means offshore investors can get all cash for their holdings, while kiwi investors are faced with a mix of bonds and cash. This has led to a large number of New Zealand investors offloading their shares, and offshore investors, or buyers with international addresses, swooping.

The makeup of the Top 50 changed today, with Urbus, Calan Healthcare and BIL exiting to make way for Pumpkin Patch, APN News & Media and AXA Asia Pacific.

It was a mixed start in the big league for the newcomers, with Pumpkin Patch down 1c at 206, APN unchanged at 486, and AXA up 1c at 422.

The change was part of a regular quarterly review by the NZX. The next review is due in December.

Of the 122 stocks traded by 11.35am today, there were 42 rises and 31 falls.

Among those on the way down was Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, down 10c at 1510. Also heading south were Port of Tauranga, down 5c at 560, Sky City Entertainment, down 1c at 461, and ANZ down 18c at 2020 on the back of news it could potentially be facing a $232 million tax bill.

On the rise was Williams & Kettle, up 5c at 320. On Wednesday the rural services company posted a net profit of $14.3 million for the July year.

Fresh listing Turners & Growers gained 5c to 345. The stock listed on the NZSX on Wednesday at $3.20, having previously traded on the unlisted market.

Other stocks to gain this morning included: Auckland International Airport up 3c at 717, Nuplex up 6c at 525 and Ports of Auckland up 5c at 680.

- NZPA