NZ stocks: Retail stocks provide focus in subdued trade

The retail sector's Christmas holiday trade provided much of the focus for investors on the New Zealand sharemarket today while most blue chip stocks had a quiet session.

The market's key NZSX-50 gross index closed 0.61 of a point higher at 3057.42, while the NZSX all capital index ended the day 0.2 of a point higher at 1005.40.

Lead stock Telecom was a cent higher at 619 and most other top stocks were up or down by a similar margin or were unchanged.

"Investors are reasonably happy to sit on portfolios but are continuing to look for growth stories, " Direct Broking's Brett Wilkinson said.

Featuring today for the wrong reasons, apparel retailer Postie Plus tumbled 12c or 14 per cent to a new low of 73c after it said it expected to post a first half loss with bad weather and poor market conditions curbed sales in the normally busy Christmas period.

Postie Plus said it expected a first half net loss before tax of $700,000 from a net profit of $3.1m for the same period last year.

Investors have been eyeing retail sector stocks after mixed predictions on how lucrative trade was over the key holiday period.

Children's clothing chain Pumpkin Patch fared much better, rising 6c to close at a fresh high of 286c. Its rise showed "investors are continuing to look for growth stories," Mr Wilkinson said.

Among other retailers, Hallenstein Glasson was down 7c to 352c, Pacific Retail Group was down 2c to 208, The Warehouse was down 3c to 357c, while Briscoe Group was up 2c to 119c.

Shares in TV3 owner CanWest MediaWorks rose 4c to 236c as speculation mounted it could be caught up in a wave of consolidation across the Tasman.

Media giant John Fairfax Holdings is said to be interested in buying Australia's Ten Network, 57.5 per cent owned by MediaWork's parent CanWest Global.

Energy generator and retailer Trustpower was down 15c to 530. That also affected major shareholder Infratil which fell 3c to 337.

Elsewhere, dual listed financial services giant AMP which today began its national convention in Auckland with some 1500 delegates from New Zealand, Australia and India attending, was up 5c to 805.

Dual listed gold prospector Aurora Minerals' shares were placed in a trading halt today pending an announcement tomorrow.

The company's shares last traded at 31c.

Other stocks to move today included: Auckland International Airport up 7c to 803, Mooring Systems up 20c to 435, Ports of Auckland down 15c to 675, Port of Tauranga down 4c to 551, Sky City down 3c to 518, Sky TV up 3c to 603 .

There were 49 rises and 54 falls among the 157 stocks traded today and total turnover was worth $88.78 million, with Telecom accounting for $41.18m of that.

- NZPA