NZ stocks: Baycorp drop leads quiet day on sharemarket

12.45 pm

Baycorp's slide on the sharemarket continued to be the main news in a quiet but steady start to the day's trading.

Baycorp closed 40 cents down yesterday and plunged another 50 cents this morning, trading at 1140 by mid-morning. It has fallen 7.3 per cent in the last two trading days.

David Price of Credit Suisse First Boston put the fall down to a dispute between Baycorp and its proposed merger partner, Australian credit services rival Data Advantage.

Otherwise it was another quiet day, Mr Price said.

"It's held up reasonably well so far given the weakness offshore, it's only down about 8-odd points."

By late morning the NZSE-40 capital index was down 9.09 points, 0.44 per cent, to 2043.69, while the NZSE-10 capital index was down 3.39 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 890.46.

Turnover was 8.3 million, with a value of $17.6 million.

Sky City dropped 35 cents initially but recovered to 15 cents to be at 1150. Brokers said the dip might be due to a portfolio sale.

The market is awaiting the release of submissions on the Government's Gaming Review, although brokers did not see any serious fallout for Sky City.

AMP slipped 35c to 2460, and Trustpower, which said this morning it would temporarily shut three of its South Island power stations, did not trade today.

By late morning there had been 16 rises and 37 falls out of 92 stocks traded so far.

Overseas signals were weak but brokers were prepared for a rush of company reports this week.

On Wall Street stocks fell to 14-week lows on Tuesday, after a dour forecast from industry leader, AT&T and mass lay-offs at Lucent Technologies, suggested the slump in corporate profits was far from over.

The Dow Jones index fell for a third day, when it shed 183.30 points, 1.76 per cent, to close at 10,241.12.

The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index also dropped for a third day, with a loss of 29.32 points, 1.47 per cent, to 1959.24.

- NZPA