NZ stocks: Telecom pulls market down

Market heavyweight Telecom dragged the sharemarket down today in a market thinned by holidays in Auckland and Australia.

Tranz Rail, had a journey as erratic as some of its recent train rides. Initially, it doubled Friday's 7c gain to sit at 144 -- its highest since late November when it began a descent towards 92c struck on December 9. But by 11.35am, it was down 4c from Friday's finish at 133.

Prime Minister Helen Clark last week put a gagging order on her ministers after Transport Minister Paul Swain sent the share price soaring by saying the Government was willing to pay a "reasonable" price for Tranz Rail's track network.

Telecom was 4c off at 455 on turnover worth over $3.3 million.

The market's total turnover of $13.2 million was boosted by a crossing of $3.6 million worth of BHP Biliton. The NZSE-40 capital index was down 5.92 points to 1995.26.

The market's tone was not helped by Wall Street's poor day on Friday where stocks tumbled to their lowest levels since October as the spectre of a US war against Iraq loomed over a market already spooked by the outlook for corporate profits during the rush of reporting season.

The blue-chip Dow, lost a whopping 238 points, 2.85 per cent, and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index slammed to three-month lows, while the tech-packed Nasdaq smacked its lowest level this month.

The Dow at 8,131 sank to its lowest level since October 17 with all 30 blue-chip components dropping on Friday.

Here, Carter Holt Harvey fell 1c to 180 ahead of its result on Wednesday. The stock, which had been in revival, fell 3.2 per cent last week as analysts downgraded their estimates for the forester's fourth quarter result to $60 million including restructuring charges of $24 million for redundancies at its Kinleith mill.

AMP's dire run continued, sliding another 11c to new record lows of 1039.

Goodman Fielder, which is speculated to be seeking alternatives to the Burns Philp bid, was up 1c at 188.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which gained 18c on Friday on the coat-tails of a good result by rival US firm Respironics, gained another 4c to to 1000 today.

Among other movers, Sky City Entertainment, rose 4c to 871, Independent Newspapers fell 8c to 315, Cavalier, fell 4c to 370, Michael Hill fell 7c to 608, and Cedenco fell 10c to 190.

There were 13 rises and 35 falls among the 89 stocks traded.

- NZPA