NZ stocks: Market closes slightly down

The sharemarket's major indices finished slightly down today on the back of a quiet trading with moderate volume.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was down 6.06 points at 2178.12, while the NZSX-40 capital index was down 6.66 points at 2105.84.

NZX, the stock exchange, traded $90.3 million on volume of 31 million. Among the 135 stocks traded were 42 rises and 46 falls.

Market heavyweight Telecom finished down 1c at 495, having traded $40.4 million on volume of 8.1 million.

ABN Amro Craigs broker Matt Willis said the turnover was moderate but none of the leading stocks had much movement today.

An announcement by investment company Hellaby Holdings of a $22.2 million dollar net profit after tax was a very good result and the market had responded favourably, Mr Willis said.

At 5pm, Hellaby was unchanged on 478, after being at $4.75 at 4.30pm.

Sky City Entertainment group finished down 18c at 881, its lowest in four weeks, after yesterday posting an increased net profit of $107 million and an increased dividend.

"The (Sky City) result to our mind looked very good... its slow -down in the second half can be attributed to severe acute respiratory syndrome (impacting on tourist numbers)," Mr Willis said.

"It's really hard to know what's driving that (share) price."

Other stocks on the move included: AMP up 18c to 565, ANZ up 10c to 2000, Carter Holt Harvey down 4c to 171, DB Breweries down 15c to 685, Infratil up 3c to 229, Nuplex down 5c to 389, NZ Refining down 15c to 1710, Ports of Auckland down 5c to 795, Sanford up 10c to 495, Sky TV down 10c to 452, The Warehouse up 11c to 506, and Westpac up 25c to 1710.

United States 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 off work this week ahead of the US 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