NZ stocks: Contact kicks market off to a slow start

Power firm Contact Energy kicked the sharemarket off to a slow start after this morning posting a 22 per cent hike in its annual profit.

Contact's after tax profit for the September year was $144.04 million, against $118.26 million the previous year.

Its shares initially reacted positively to the news, but by late morning had slipped 2c to 625 on slim volume.

Hamilton Hindin Greene broker Grant Williamson said Contact's result was a solid and in line with investors' expectations.

"But there's been very little interest in the shares," Mr Williamson said.

"They (investors) have got no more reason to buy that stock at the moment, but looking ahead it's a good option," he told NZPA.

Shares in market heavyweight Telecom were down 1c at 605, with turnover of $11.1m.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 1.31 points at 2926.37, while the NZSX-All capital index was up 0.35 points at 970.66.

Morning turnover totalled $25.9m, and among the 128 stocks traded were 34 rises and 36 falls.

"The market's mixed today. It's looking for direction," Mr Williamson said.

Investors reacted positively to Auckland International Airport's (AIA) annual meeting today, when it revealed an October quarter net profit of $34.7m, up 23 per cent on the previous same period.

Passenger numbers were up and likely to stay that way over the Summer months, AIA said in a statement.

"It's results like this that cause the market to put a premium on those (AIA) shares," Mr Williamson said.

AIA shares were up 5c at 753, again on slim volume.

Nuplex is to hold a special shareholders meeting about the purchase of Coatings Resin. Nuplex shares were down 2c at 518.

Carter Holt Harvey gained 1c to 216 after Friday's news it was to make an off-market takeover of Australian packaging firm Wadepack for A$85 ($94.76) million.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 2c to 303 after yesterday shedding 9c because of its exposure to the United States markets and the effects of the strong New Zealand dollar.

Wood processor Tenon was unmoved at 222 after the Inland Revenue Department said its planned $321m capital return would not be deemed a dividend for tax purposes.

Other stocks on the move included Air NZ down 2c at 162, Feltex up 1c at 156, Mainfreight up 2c at 212, Michael Hill International up 1c at 831, NZX up 5c at 840, Promina down 5c at 525, and The Warehouse Group up 2c at 376.


- NZPA