NZ stocks: Telecom tumble fails to fell market

The New Zealand sharemarket managed to resist a large fall despite a 15c drop in market leader Telecom today.

The benchmark NZSX50 gross index lost 18.18 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 2281.55, while the top-40 index lost 0.71 per cent to close at 2182.13.

Healthy turnover of 32.98 million stocks valued at $113.10 million was topped by Telecom's 11.6 million shares changing hands for $58.3 million.

Brett Wilkinson of Direct Broking said offshore selling appeared to be responsible for Telecom's 15c fall to 497.

No 2 stock Carter Holt Harvey helped underpin the index with a 2c rise to 178, and retail giant The Warehouse was up 2c at 567.

Air New Zealand was unchanged at 51c after announcing shortly before the market closed that it expected to achieve annual savings of up to $245 million by 2007.

The airline announced its board had approved a new four-year business strategy, although the only detail released was a planned 15 per cent reduction in its 10,000 workforce.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances lost 11c to 1470 after news last week it would purchase the finance and credit card business of the Farmers department chain.

"People believe it (F&P Appliances) seems to be straying away from its area of expertise," Mr Wilkinson said.

AMP was down 10c at 812 after a 24c gain yesterday, on news in New Zealand today of rises in all three managed fund categories for the quarter and in the year to September 2003.

Tranz Rail rose a further 3c to 116, 6c above the offer price from Toll Holdings.

A number of institutions wanted to keep Toll to its current level of acceptances -- 85 per cent of the company -- although some shareholders were also happy with Toll's rapid move to install new management, Mr Wilkinson said.

Toll has extended its offer until November 7 and can extend a further 30 days.

Elsewhere on the market Fletcher Building lost 1c to 425, Contact Energy shed 3c to 493, Auckland Airport was down 3c at 636, Briscoe Group lost 3c to 192, Restaurant Brands was down 1c at 134 and Michael Hill shed 10c to 430.

On the other side of the ledger Promina was up 3c at 368, Baycorp Advantage rose 5c to 262, newly-listed Freightways was up 3c at 179, Hirequip rose 2c to a two-year high of 92, Telstra was up 6c at 563, and Williams and Kettle rose 4c to 490.

Vodka maker 42 Below lists on the New Zealand Exchange tomorrow.

There were 41 falls and 39 rises on the 143 stocks traded.

Volume was light on Wall Street due to Monday's Columbus Day holiday which closed many United States markets,

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average rose 89.7 points, or 0.93 per cent, to 9764.38; the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 7.29 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 1045.35; and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 18.22 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 1933.53.

- NZPA