NZ stocks: Market begins week in negative territory

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket was in negative territory today, with little news ahead to boost the indices during the session.

By mid-morning the NZSX-50 gross index was down 3.95 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 2313.99, and the top-40 index was down 0.25 per cent at 2209.58.

Very light turnover of 5.86 million shares was valued at $14.16 million, topped not by market leader Telecom as usual but by carpet company Cavalier, with $4.5 million worth of trades.

Cavalier, which announced plans for expansion at its annual meeting last week and the retirement in April of chairman Tony Timpson, was down 6c at 550.

The top-50 company reached a record high of 570 on Thursday.

On Wall St stocks eased after early gains on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index slipping 0.28 per cent to 1970.74; the Dow Jones industrial average falling 0.48 per cent to 9809.79; and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipping 0.46 per cent to 1053.21.

New Zealand market leader Telecom was unchanged at 492 while No 2 stock Carter Holt Harvey was down 2c at 183, and fellow top stock Fletcher Building lost 2c to 410.

Sky City gained 2c to 912, Tower rose 2c to 133, Turners Auctions gained 5c to 440, Freightways was up 1c at 186, Promina rose 5c to 390, Port of Lyttelton rose 3c to 163, and Westpac gained 15c to 1685.

Tranz Rail lost 6c to 140 after its Australia suitor Toll Holdings announced on Friday it would extend its takeover offer to December 22.

Guinness Peat Group was down 1c at 183, Rubicon lost 1c to 74, The Warehouse lost 3c to 565, retailer Briscoe Group was down 3c at 178, fellow retailer Pacific Retailer lost 12c to 238, Baycorp Advantage was down 2c at 304, and NGC Holdings lost 3c to 174.

Jeweller Michael Hill was down 2c at 440, 42 Below lost 1c to 36, Hellaby Holdings shed 3c to 471, Infratil was down 1c at 251 , and Tourism Holdings Ltd was down 1c at 166.

Of the stocks to trade ex-dividend today, Restaurant Brands (4.5c per share) was down 5c at 128; Steel & Tube Holdings (10cps) was down 9c at 380; and Urbus Properties (3.62cps) was down 1c at 90.

There were 34 falls and 22 rises on the 108 stocks traded.

- NZPA