NZ stocks falls even as results impress

Logistics company Mainfreight delivered a strong result from a global business today and its share price fell 2.3 per cent as profit-taking took over as the main theme in many markets.

The profit reporting season is gearing up, with Telecom reporting tomorrow, giving investors a chance to assess how the wider economy is performing.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 20 points, or 0.609 per cent, at 3365.868. Turnover was worth $174.58 million, with $47.5 million of that in Telecom shares. There were 34 rises and 50 falls among the 118 stocks traded.

Mainfreight fell 19c to 820 after reporting a 27 per cent rise in nine-month net surplus before abnormals to $34.6m.

"It was a strong result but it really is a classic scenario of buy the rumour and sell the fact," said James Smalley at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

The stock had had a strong run and investors were in the mood to take some money off the table.

"It is no reflection on the company. It is a very good result," Mr Smalley said.

Steel & Tube rose 12c to 239 on thin volume after reporting a 165 per cent rise in half-year profit on a 6 per cent rise in revenue. The company talked about marginal improvements in its markets.

Mr Smalley said the profit improvement was from a low base and much of the improvement was due to better cost control rather than revenue growth reflecting a strong economy. Still, the result beat expectations.

AMP Office Trust was unchanged at 78 after reporting a 1.1 per cent fall in half year distributable profit after tax. Goodman Property rose 1c to 94 and Property for Industry was unchanged at 115.

Fletcher Building fell 4c to 811 and Telecom eased 2c to 219.

Freightways fell 6c to 322 ahead of its result on Monday.

SkyCity fell 2c to 333 and Auckland Airport fell 4c to 223.

NZX rose just 2c to 174 and it was looking fairly side-lined in a scramble for mergers of exchanges. The ASX's share price soared today.

Brokers said big volumes of Telecom shares are trading, as institutional shareholders repositioning ahead of a change in the company's weighting in the S&P/ASX 200.

Turners & Growers rose 11c to 170, Ecoya rose 9c to 75 and Allied Farmers dipped to 1.9c. In the United States, investors took profits on recent gains in US stocks, but a last-minute rise in Bank of America helped lift the Dow Jones industrial average to its eighth straight day of gains.

At the market close, the Dow Jones was up 0.1 per cent to 12240, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 0.3 per cent to 1321, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 0.3 per cent to 2789.

- NZPA