NZ stocks: Telecom weakness pulls NZ market down

1.00pm


Continued weakness in lead stock Telecom pulled the sharemarket down in morning trading today.

The stock has a 26 per cent weighting in the top 50 index and was down 7c to 525 at 11.30am today after dropping 11c yesterday. After starting the year well and trading up at 546, a two-year high, it is now 10, or 1.9 per cent, below where it ended 2003.

The benchmark NZSX-50 was down 14.90 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 2447.83, while the NZSX-40 capital index was down 12.93 points to 2278.93.

Trading in Telecom was worth more than $17 million, nearly half of the overall market's turnover of just $37.6 million.

No 2 stock Carter Holt Harvey added to the negative tone, losing 4c to 191, despite news that key global players are planning to lift packing and pulp prices.

Discount retailer The Warehouse, which has had a positive, albeit erratic, start to 2004, fell 7c to 522 today.

AMP was down 8c to 555 on light turnover and Auckland Airport was down 6c at 687.

One of last year's stars, Trustpower, which has continued its good run this year, fell back 10c today to 665 as the spike in wholesale power prices proved short lived.

This year's star performer, the small Christchurch marine engineering firm Mooring Systems, was up another 9c to 260 today.

Another stock to have had a superb run, NZX, rose another 15c to 640.

NZ Refining responding to the rise in petrol prices, rose 40c to 1580.

Other movers included: Cavalier, down 4c to 541, Pacific Retail, DB Breweries, up 5c to 825 and Nuhaka, down 10c to 515.

There were 28 rises and 27 falls among just 99 stocks traded.

The influence from Wall Street was negative where stocks fell after lacklustre quarterly scorecards from some marquee technology companies.

Comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan also failed to whet investors' appetite for stocks.

- NZPA