NZ stocks: Telecom leads market down

The sharemarket made a small retreat from yesterday's record closing high , led lower by its top stock.

Market gorilla Telecom was down 2c to 589 after it posted a 19 per cent rise to $193 million in its first quarter net profit.

The profit bettered analysts' average forecasts of $185m.

Telecom said that it remained comfortable with the consensus of analysts's forecasts for a full-year net profit of $816m.

It gained 6c yesterday and, like the overall market, has run up strongly in the last seven sessions.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was off 5.12 points to 2879.65 shortly before midday. The NZSX-All capital index was down 2.27 points to 952.21.

Of the market's total turnover of $40.17m, $24.81m was in Telecom.

ABN Amro Craigs broker Matt Willis said Telecom's result looked broadly in line with expectations.

"It doesn't reflect any surprising growth but endorses the cashflow and dividend story."

While regulatory issues were prominent, Telecom's ability to pay strong dividends was what was driving investors, he said.

They would be wanting to hear whether Telecom could lift its payout at the half year result, he said.

Elsewhere, there was still market talk about ANZ linking up with AMP but neither stock was traded on the local market. ANZ rose 15c to 2275 yesterday.

NZ Refining pushed 20c up to 2620.

Waste Management, which yesterday rose 9c, lifted another 3c to 558.

Pumpkin Patch was down 4c to 216 after today saying its first quarter same store sales had fallen by one per cent.

Other movers included

Cavalier Corp up 5c to 475, Colonial Motor Co down 5c to 295, Contact Energy down 3c to 612, Promina up 10c to 510 .

There were 24 stocks up and 33 down among the 111 traded.

The influence from Wall Street was positive as United States stocks extended their post-election rally.

Mr Willis said offshore markets were continuing to surge in a relief rally prompted by a decisive result in the US presidential election.

The S&P 500 Index to its highest close for more than two years as oil prices tumbled below US$49, ($71.85).

"The markets have taken on new life prompted by the election results and the slide in crude," said Harry Michas, stock-index futures trader at manmarketmonitor.com.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 177.71 points, or 1.75 per cent, to close at 10,314.76.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 18.47 points, or 1.62 per cent, to end at 1,161.67.

The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index gained 19.30 points, or 0.96 per cent, to finish at 2,023.63, based on the latest data.

- NZPA