NZ stocks: Market closes in the black on return from holiday

The New Zealand sharemarket closed in the black today as it returned from the Christmas and Boxing Day break.

However, turnover was extremely thin as many market players remained on holiday.

The NZSE-40 capital index closed up 2.55 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 1949.22, on turnover of 4.62 million stocks valued at $12.02 million.

Telecom led turnover with its $3.10 million worth of stocks changing hands.

Rowan Johnston of Forsyth Bar Frater Williams said the market was quiet as expected, although the retail stocks had attracted some attention.

Amid news of bumper holiday sales, discount giant The Warehouse climbed 10c to 725 while fellow retailer Briscoe Group was up 10c at 280.

Telecom was sold off during the day and closed on its lows, he said, down 6c at 455.

"It's not perceived as a growth stock any more, so every time it starts to go for a bit of a run it's sold off again. There's just negative sentiment surrounding that one," Mr Johnston said.

In the one piece of corporate news today, Telecom announced it was raising the price of domestic line rentals next year in line with inflation, by up to $1.25 a month.

"Everything else was on pretty light volumes, so I wouldn't read too much (into them)."

Blue chip Contact Energy continued its rise, gaining 7c to 398, after announcing on Monday it bought NGC's Taranaki Combined Cycle power stations for half a billion dollars.

Fletcher Forests was up 2c at 99, financial services stock Tower lost 1c to 211, Carter Holt Harvey was up 1c at 174, Auckland Airport was up 2c at 550, Sky City gained 3c at 800, and Independent Newspapers gained 7c to 307.

There were 35 rises and 31 falls on the 99 stocks traded.

On Wall St, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 15.50 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 8432.61; the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 2.81 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 889.66; and the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index declined 4.58 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 1367.89.

- NZPA