NZ stocks: Market does about-face: all eyes on Tranz rail

The New Zealand sharemarket's early gains today had done an about-face by late morning, with the star performer so far being besieged rail operator Tranz Rail.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 2.13 points at 2297.60, while the NZSX-40 capital index was down 0.73 points at 2197.01.

Market heavyweight Telecom was down 6c at 506, having traded $7.8 million worth on volume of 1.5 million.

On the market so far today, there had been $29.3 million worth of shares traded on volume of nine million. Among the 117 stocks traded, there were 44 rises and 15 falls.

ABN Amro Craigs operator Matt Willis said this morning's trading had been relatively quiet with Tranz Rail dominating the spotlight.

At 11.30am, Tranz Rail shares were up 5c at 118, having traded $774,783 worth on volume of 673,658.

"Clearly there's potential for some equity upside here and there's some punting on that today," Mr Willis told NZPA today.

"The independent valuation put the deal based on (Australian logistics company) Toll's involvement at around $1.30.

"But going forward there's surely got to be issues of liquidity for shareholders for minority shareholders that remain.

Toll has secured up to 85 per cent of Tranz Rail, but had been seeking a 90 per cent stake to effect a takeover.

Toll has extended its $1.10 a share offer to outstanding Tranz Rail shareholders for another 30 days.

In other sharemarket news, Fletcher Building was unchanged on 426, having traded $8.9 million worth on volume of 2.1 million.

AMP, which is due to hold its third quarter briefing in Wellington today, was up 4c at 826.

Other shares on the rise included: Auckland International Airport up 3c at 642, Cavalier up 5c at 530, DB Breweries up 4c at 750, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 3c at 1484, F&P Healthcare up 5c at 1270, Lion Nathan up 3c at 633, Promina up 5c at 370, Sky TV up 5c at 490, and Wrightson up 2c at 147.

Among the shares falling were: Contact Energy down 1c at 495, Ebos down 5c at 330, Michael Hill International down 6c at 434, Nuplex down 1c at 417, and Powerco down 1c at 184.

- NZPA