NZ stocks: Air NZ only excitement on sharemarket

With the exception of Air New Zealand, there was little excitement on the sharemarket this morning.

CS First Boston broker David Price said the market was quiet, with off market activity stronger than on-market.

Air New Zealand B shares continued their downward path after a buying flurry yesterday afternoon on hopes the airline might secure a deal with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Blue.

But Sir Richard dashed those hopes and so the B shares in particular resumed their journey downwards.

At 11am Air New Zealand A shares was up 1c at 93 but B shares were down 4c to 1.02, as expectation increased that the Government would abolish the class distinction between A and B shares.

Media reports this morning speculated that government attempts to help the airline find extra capital were faltering. Air New Zealand must find around $1 billion cash to upgrade the fleet of its subsidiary, Ansett Australia.

Meanwhile on Wall Street, the US dollar had its biggest one day gain in six years on the back of better-than-expected manufacturing data, and stocks followed suit.

The Dow gained nearly 48 points and although the rally fizzled out, Mr Price said the rise would cause people to take notice.

He said it was an important indicator and if it presaged a resumption in growth, it might portend a switch in the New Zealand's recent out-performance to under-performance.

Back home, the benchmark NZSE-40 capital index was down 2.03 points to 2041.78 after opening slightly up.

Market leader Telecom was steady at 504 on nearly $3.3 million worth of shares.

Rubicon topped the total turnover with $3.7 million of shares traded offmarket. It last traded around 73c.

Other stocks to move included ANZ down 12c to 2080; Auckland Airport down 1c to 382; Baycorp down 2c to 1348; Steel & Tube up 3c to 200; Telstra up 5 at 595; Tranz Rail down 10c at 425; Trustpower down 10c to 300; and Westpac Trust up 5c to 1555.

Guinness Peat Group was down 1c to 170 and Otter was down 1.3c to 13.7 after GPG announced foreign exchange losses of Stg3.1 million ($NZ10.4 million) on its half year profit of Stg12.3 million. The result was also buffeted by a write down of Stg5.3 million from Otter Gold.

There were 39 rises and 36 falls on 111 stocks traded.

Overseas, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to 9,997.49, poking its head above the psychologically key 10,000 mark.

The technology-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 34.65 points, or 1.92 per cent, to 1,770.78, after gaining more than 1 per cent earlier.

The broader S&P 500 shed 0.64 of a point, or 0.06 per cent, to finish at 1,132.94.

- NZPA