NZSE down for fifth consecutive day

The sharemarket today was down for the fifth day in succession, albeit that each of the falls has been small.

Today the NZSE-40 index market was down 1.11 points to 2034.47 by shortly after 11am.

Turnover continues to be light with just $28.9 million worth of shares traded, nearly half of them in Telecom.

The market leader continues to lead the market down, dropping 7c to 508. ABN Amro's Nigel Scott said Telecom was range-trading between 500 and 540 and was largely order-driven. It reports its annual result next Tuesday and is expected to post earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of anywhere between $484 million and $532 million.

After writing off its $155 million Australian CDMA rollout, its bottom line is picked to be as low as $123 million to $166 million.

Baycorp continued to star following confirmation of its merger yesterday with Data Advantage. It rose another 4.5 per cent, 60c, to 1380 today to add to yesterday's 6 per cent gain. Mr Scott said the stock, which will come into the S&P/ASX 200 as No 70, had benefited from index-related buying. Some analysts had put valuations as high as 1550 on it, he said.

Another of this year's stars, Fisher & Paykel, picked up another 5c to 1265. It is due to be split next month with the Healthcare division listing on the Nasdaq.

Contact Energy rose 6c to 321 after easing recently on lowering electricity prices.

Genesis fell 1c to 399 after yesterday posting a half year loss.

US blue-chips eked out gains overnight after the latest data on workers' productivity offered hope the US economy can chug ahead, but fresh worries about the semiconductor sector pulled tech shares lower.

American workers' productivity surged in the April-June period, lifting expectations that greater efficiency can allow the economy to grow faster without inflation, even after the economy posted its weakest performance since 1993 in the second quarter.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 6.47 points, or 0.32 per cent, to end at 2,027.79.

But the Dow Jones industrial average rose 57.43 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 10,458.74.

- NZPA