NZ stocks: Firm Telecom keeps NZ market in positive

Firmness in the market juggernaut Telecom helped keep the sharemarket in the black in morning trading today. The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 7.69 points at 2191.87 at 11.45am while the NZSX-40 capital index was up 6.39 points at 2118.89.

Telecom built on yesterday's 7c gain, adding 6c to 502. It completely dominated early trading with $16.6 million of the market's total $27.6 million turnover.

Top 10 stock Sky City Entertainment fell heavily in early trading despite posting an 88 per cent increase in net profit yesterday to $107 million and an increased dividend. However, after dropping 19c it recovered to be 5c down at 894.

JB Were broker Murray Rutherford said the result was in line with guidance. While some investors had chosen to focus on concerns about anti-smoking legislation, they were ignoring the 15 per cent additional capacity in Auckland the company was coming on stream, he said.

He said the company had demonstrated how resilient it was in the face of Sars, the Iraq war and bombs in Bali.

AMP continued to claw back some of its losses, rising 8c to 555. Others in the positive included Ebos, up 3c to 310, Michael Hill, 3c to 410, NZX, 4c to 479, and The Warehouse, 5c to 500.

Tourism Holdings fell 4 to 140 despite it producing a better-than-expected June year net profit of $8.7 million yesterday. Just three weeks earlier it said it expected a profit of only $7.5 million.

Shotover Jet was untraded after its net profit fell 20 per cent but its operating profit was up sharply.

Gold miner GRD fell 7c to 135, Carter Holt Harvey fell 2c to 173, and Vertex fell 3c to 158.

There were 28 stocks up and 25 down among the 101 traded.

US stocks ended slightly higher following a late-day buying spree as investors digested a batch of broadly positive economic data. The market was thin with many taking off work this week ahead of the Labour Day holiday.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 22.81 points at 9340.45. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged up 3.02 points at 996.73 and the Nasdaq added 6.33 points to 1770.64.

- NZPA