NZ stocks: Telecom pegs market back

12.00pm

The sharemarket was held back in morning trading today by Telecom.

The market leader eased a couple of cents to 578 at 11.45am on turnover worth $22.5 million of the market total of $51.6 million.

There were also 2.7 million Fletcher Building shares traded, worth $12.2 million. It was up 3c to 449, defying a call this week by brokerage Macquarie that Fletcher would decline as a result of lower immigration and less Government infrastructure building.

The NZSX-50 gross index was up 1.17 points at 2592.24, while the NZSX All capital index was down 0.21 points at 876.33.

Ports of Auckland was the morning's standout performer, rising 13c to 749. Lyttelton Port was up 2c to 165.

No 2 stock Carter Holt Harvey was down 1c at 220 following its good form in the wake of the sale of its tissue business.

Fellow forest products company Tenon fell 1c to 172 after rising 4c yesterday in the afterglow of its $165 million sale of cutting rights in its Tarawera forest.

Cavalier continued its upward path, rising 10c to 502.

TrustPower initially fell 5c but clawed back to square at 730 following a good run up in the wake of the cancellation of Project Aqua. Two proposed hydro projects it is planning at Waipori near Dunedin and in Taranaki were awarded carbon credits today by the Ministry of Energy.

Other stocks to ease were: NZX, 5c to 860 Wate Management, 6c to 434 and Sky TV, 4c to 521.

Lion Nathan rose 6c to 701, BIL rose 1c to 67, and Infratil rose 6c to 280.

In all, there were 45 rises and 23 falls among the 112 stocks traded.

US stocks rose after reports showing a strong pick-up in US manufacturing activity last month and an unexpected decline in weekly jobless claims, led investors to anticipate a robust monthly jobs report on Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 15.63 points, or 0.15 per cent, at 10,373.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 5.96 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 1,132.17. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index gained 20.78 points, or 1.04 per cent, to 2,015.00.

- NZPA