NZ stocks: CHH trade again dominates sharemarket

12.00pm

The sharemarket edged lower today as market leader Telecom and market star Air New Zealand pulled back.

But as with yesterday, the market was dominated by turnover in a resurgent Carter Holt Harvey.

The forestry stock has been enjoying a return to popularity as foreign investors have been buying to catch the cyclical upswing and the strong New Zealand dollar.

Big volumes of Carter Holt shares traded yesterday, sending the share price up to a fresh two-year high to $2.08, before closing at $2.07. Today, the price firmed back against to $2.08 on further good volume. More than nine million shares worth nearly $19 million changed hands yesterday and a further 5.5 million worth $11.5 million changed hands again today.

Solomon Smith Barney broker Craig Robins said the stock was building momentum with good support.

"It's very encouraging. It's broken through a couple of resistance points and it's looking good."

He said it was rising on the back of pulp price rise.

The NZSE-40 Capital Index was down 5.98 points to 2116.83 at 11.45am. Total volume was $30,4 million.

Telecom dropped 3c to 503 on volume of $5.2 million.

Air New Zealand, which at one stage yesterday had soared more than a third in value in less than a week, fell 2c to 66c. Speculation that Qantas was conducting secret talks with Air New Zealand over taking a cornerstone stake failed to spark renewed buying. The company said it would make an announcement to the exchange today.

Mr Robins said the stock had been driven by retail investors and he believes it is overvalued.

Tower fell 3c to 475 after reporting a modest half year profit rise of 5 per cent yesterday. The company said that over-investment in the poorly performing bond market had pegged its performance.

Affco, which yesterday reported a $14.7 million half year loss, dropped 3c to 23 cents while Richmond, which yesterday sank 33c after it reported a $1.5 million half year loss, recovered 18c to 230. Richmond also announced chief executive John Loughlin was quitting, but also indicated it expected a full year profit of around $11 million.

Pacific Retail, due to report its result today, rose 6c to 250.

Fletcher Building recovered 7c to 292 from its recent pull-back.

Baycorp Advantage rose 6c to 436, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to 871 ahead of its result tomorrow, while its sister F&P Appliances rose 7c to 292 and ANZ Bank rose 13c to 2258. Horizon Energy was up 25c to 1600 on very light volume.

Trustpower continued to enjoy its good recent run, rising 5c to 345.

There were 35 rises and 31 falls among the 117 stocks traded.

- NZPA