NZ stocks: Telecom leads sharemarket down

12.00pm

A 4c fall by top stock Telecom pulled the benchmark sharemarket index down this morning.

The bellwether telco stock fell 4c to 599 by 11.35am, on turnover worth $10.8 million.

By 11.35am today, the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index had fallen 0.38 points at 2763.07, while the NZSX-All capital index rose 0.33 points to 930.77.

Total market turnover by 11.35am was worth $19.8 million.

Fletcher Building was up 15c to 527 at 11.35am today, following on from a 30c gain yesterday. The surge follows yesterday's announcement of a full-year net profit after tax of $240 million, up 43 per cent on the previous year. The company also yesterday announced a fully imputed final dividend of 14c a share.

Australia's Telstra was down 2c at 548, despite today reporting a net profit for 2003/04 of A$4.12 billion ($4.5 billion), an increase of A$689 million over the previous year.

Lion Nathan was unchanged at 764. The company today said it was on track to post a full year profit of A$195 million to A$200 million.

Repco Corp was up 2c at 303, after it yesterday reported a net profit of A$34.1 million ($37.65m) before significant items in the June year, up from A$25m a year earlier.

Lyttelton Port was up 2c at 174 after yesterday posting a net profit of $12 million for the June year.

Rises outnumbered falls 32 to 27 of the 101 stocks traded by 11.35am.

Stocks on the move included: Briscoe up 2c at 316, Contact Energy down 2c at 596, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 5c at 1345, F&P Appliances up 2c at 471, NZX down 5c at 835, Steel & Tube Holdings up 8c at 446 and TrustPower up 2c at 462.

- NZPA