NZ stocks: Market dips as it consolidates

The New Zealand Exchange dipped this morning as the market consolidated some of its recent gains.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 9.62 points at 2265.94, while the NZSX-40 capital index was down 7.68 points at 2170.82.

There had been $34.6 million worth of shares traded on volume of 11.4 million. Among the 108 stocks traded were 24 rises and 38 falls.

Market heavyweight Telecom was down 6c at 518, having traded $16.2 million worth on volume of 3.1 million.

Forsyth Barr broker David Price said the market yesterday finished on a positive note after a lacklustere start to trading.

"Really (today) it's just giving back that late surge from yesterday. It's extremely quiet and unlikely to change today," Mr Price told NZPA today.

Despite that, the market had been performing very well in recent sessions, he said, adding that it was consolidating its gains today.

Shares in rural services company Wrightson Group were up 1c at 146 after Dunedin based Rural Portfolio's (RPI) play to secure a 19.9 per cent block.

RPI today confirmed it had achieved a 7.76 per cent stake in Wrightson by its deadline of 5pm yesterday. RPI made a $200 million stand at 145c a share.

Pacific Retail was unchanged at 245c after yesterday warning at its annual meeting that second-half earnings would not make up ground lost in its failed bid for Farmers department stores.

Investment company Pure New Zealand, which confirmed yesterday it was selling part of its dietary supplements business, was unchanged at 45c.

Shares on the rise today included: Allied Farmer up 9c at 224, Auckland International Airport up 4c at 679, GRD Macrae up 10c at 185, Michael Hill International up 3c at 425, Richmond up 5c at 315, and Sanford up 9c at 509.

On the slide were: Carter Holt Harvey down 1c at 172, Contact Energy down 1c at 488, Genesis Energy down 2c at 107, Lion Nathan down 5c at 600, Nuplex down 3c at 390, Ports of Auckland down 2c at 810, The Warehouse down 1c at 535, and Westpac down 15c at 1725.

Overseas, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 150.53 points to 9425.51. The broader S&P 500 fell 19.65 points to 1009.38, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 58.03 points to 1843.69.

- NZPA