New Zealand stocks continued to slump in morning trade today, extending yesterday's 20-point loss as investors took profits on the market's recent stellar run.
By late morning the NZSX-50 gross index was 16.82 points lower at 2974.33, while the NZSX all capital index was 3.76 points lower at 978.10.
While
blue chips eased across the board, there were few dramatic moves. Top stock Telecom was down a cent at 600, while Contact Energy, which yesterday lost 15c, was down a further 3c to 625.
Auckland International Airport was down 9c to 788, Carter Holt Harvey was down 4c to 210, Fletcher Building was down 4c to 630 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances was down 6c to 436.
Casino operator Sky City was down 10c to 502. The stock has been affected in the run-up to the smokefree workplace law coming into force.
Jeweller Michael Hill provided a touch of pre-Christmas glitter in the predominantly negative market, rising 15c to 825. Other retailers were not faring so well. Hallenstein Glasson was down 7c to 360, Pumpkin Patch was down 7c to 250, and The Warehouse was down 3c to 355.
Former New Zealand investment company Richina was up 3c to 70c. Yesterday it gained shareholder approval to its ownership of profitable investment the Shanghai Leather Co.
Overall turnover by 11.30am of $56.36 million mainly comprised of $16.37m trade in Telecom and $13.04m in National Property Trust.
- NZPA
