NZ stocks: Larger stocks lift mixed market

A mixed share market edged up slightly today, with trading in the larger stocks lifting the market to close up half a per cent.

"In the top 50, as many went up as went down, with trading in the larger stocks keeping [the market's] nose ahead," Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said.

Telecom stock, closing up 7c at 262, seemed unaffected by a report today of a possible Commerce Commission investigation over whether Telecom breached the Commerce Act by offering "loyalty" discounts to customers.

With the shift in the company's management towards greater transparency, investors weren't as afraid of the outcomes as they would have been last year, Mr Wright said.

"People aren't as afraid as they used to be with this company - there is a lot more positive sentiment than there was a year ago."

Among other leading stocks, Fletcher Building closed down 7c, or 1 per cent, at 678. Contact Energy also fell, down 6c to 583 and SkyCity gained 3c to close at 275.

The NZSX-50 index closed up 0.55 per cent, or 15.332 points, at 2825.157.

Turnover was 26.4m shares worth $76.54m. There were 48 rises and 32 falls among the 113 stocks traded.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances jumped 7.58 per cent, or 5c, to close at 71, Freightways rose 6c to 301, Guinness Peat Group rose 1c to 72, Goodman property rose 1c to 86 and Tower rose 5c to 186.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 1c to 295, Telstra fell 2c to 423 and Auckland Airport fell 1c to 156.

In the US the Dow was lifted on Friday (local time) by defensive sectors such as pharmaceuticals, while a disappointing outlook from National Semiconductor weighed on technology stocks.

The Dow gained 0.3 per cent to 8799.26, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.1 per cent to 946.21, the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.2 per cent to 1858.80.

For the week, the Dow gained 0.4 per cent, the S&P 500 added 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 0.5 per cent. For the year, the blue-chip Dow average is up 0.3 per cent.

- NZPA