NZ stocks: Telecom leads market lower

12.30pm

Positive sessions on overseas markets yesterday failed to inspire New Zealand investors this morning with market leader Telecom leading the top 50 lower on opening.

In late morning trading, the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was 4.77 points or 0.18 per cent lower at 2592.99, while the NZSX all capital index fell 1.31 points to 873.31.

Telecom was down 2c to 547, with 3.7 million shares changing hands.

National flag carrier Air New Zealand's shares were placed in a trading halt ahead of its late morning announcement that it will acquire 10 new Boeing aircraft for long-haul routes. After the news, its shares eased 1c to 40c.

Contact Energy also shed 1c to 556, after firming immediately on an announcement it had struck a deal for the supply of the remaining Maui gas reserves.

Auckland International Airport which yesterday announced plans for a $200 million bond programme was down 1c to 676.

Takeover targets Tenon and Wrightson had mixed fortunes.

Wrightson gained 1c to 156 after Rural Portfolio Investments yesterday raised its partial takeover offer to 165c a share. Tenon was down a cent to 191.

Elsewhere across the top 50, Carter Holt Harvey was up a cent to 200, Fletcher Building was down 2c to 438, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 5c to 1305, Sky City was down 4c to 470, The Warehouse was down 3c to 431, and Waste Management was up 2c to 457.


Total turnover was worth $29.6 million and there were 19 rises and 29 falls on 105 stocks traded.

Meanwhile on overseas markets, Wall St's Dow Jones industrial average closed up 14.2 points to 10,202.65, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.56 point to 1121.24, and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.03 points to 1990.77.

In London the FTSE 100 closed at 4,422.7 points, down eight or 0.18 per cent and Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.54 per cent or 60.39 points to close at 11,296.76.

- NZPA