NZ stocks: Telecom gain fails to boost market into black

12.40pm

The New Zealand sharemarket was little changed today after a mixed session on Wall Street overnight.

By late morning the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was down 0.05 per cent, or 1.25 points, at 2311.61, while the top-40 index was down 0.03 per cent at 2212.26.

On Wall St the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.82 per cent to 1940.90; the blue-chip Dow Jones industrials lost 0.31 per cent to 9747.64; and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 added 0.13 per cent to 1046.03.

In London the FTSE-100 index closed 4.8 points up at 4352.3.

New Zealand market leader Telecom returned to the 500 mark, up 1c.

Turnover of 25.5 million stocks, valued at $79.6 million, was topped by 15.2 million Independent News & Media (INM) exchangeable preference shares worth $60.5 million.

ABN Amro Craigs retail equities advisor Nigel Scott said the heavy volume of trading in the Irish media company's preference shares was due to a sell-down of existing shares by an unnamed holder.

Most of the 15 million INM shares was made up of crossings between brokers, with the core volume just 9.5 million stocks. INM shares were down 16c at 400.

Baycorp Advantage was up 20c at an 11-month high of 296 after a presentation at the UBS emerging companies' conference yesterday.

Carter Holt Harvey, which posted a 17 per cent increase in third quarter net profit today to $70 million, last traded down 3c at 181.

"Telecom just doesn't want to budge out of that range of just under 500 to just over 500, there seems to be net selling in that," Mr Scott said.

"It (the market)'s been steady all week without wanting to really get out of bed, and the reason for that is the market's comfortable away from Telecom and Carter Holt."

Air New Zealand was unchanged at 52 ahead of its annual meeting this afternoon, and after news that the Commerce Commission will release its final decision tomorrow on the proposed alliance with Qantas.

ANZ was up 38c at 2140, The Warehouse was up 3c at 584, Auckland Airport gained 7c to 650, Fletcher Forests rose 1c to 131, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 10c to 1250, Fletcher Building was up 2c at a record high of 443, and Tourism Holdings Ltd rose 1c to 154.

Jeweller Michael Hill jumped 10c to 440 after releasing its positive third-quarter sales figures on Monday, Guinness Peat Group rose 2c to 178, Mainfreight was up 2c at 145, and Sky TV gained 2c to 497.

F&P Appliances shed 2c to 1505, Contact Energy was down 3c at 505, and Sky City was down 3c at 861.

Newly listed gin and vodka maker 42 Below was down 1c at 38, and meat exporter Richmond dropped 35c to 280 on just 230 shares.

There were 38 falls and 28 rises on the 118 shares traded.

- NZPA