NZ stocks: Market down for fourth successive session

12.10pm

The main benchmark share index was down in morning trading today, its fourth successive loss.

The NZSX-50 capital index was down 6.02 points to 2589.50 at 11.35am. The NZSX-All capital index was down 1.96 points to 879.28.

The top 50 index has fallen in all but one of the last eight sessions and the market has lost 2.5 per cent in value over that period.

The Warehouse was down 5c to 428 today following a choppy session on Friday when it warned its full year result was likely to be at the low end of the $60 million to $70 million range. On Friday, its shares initially dropped 11c but rallied to close a cent stronger on 433.

Telecom was down 1c to 558 after reporting a solid third quarter result on Friday but at the same time warning its 2005 would be down as a result of a big push in the broadband market.

Turnover in Telecom was worth $11 million against the market's total turnover of $28 million.

Tenon, under takeover offer by Rubicon, was up 4c to 192 after the forest products company upped its profit forecasts for the current financial year to approximately $64 million before "recoverable partial takeover offer costs", up from the $58-$60 million previously forecast.

The company said the upward revision of ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) for the year to June 2004 incorporated actual results to the end of April.

The company also raised its forecast for the next financial year to $64 million from the $58 million earlier indicated.

AMP fell 13c to 655, Fisher & Paykel Appliances fell 5c to 457 while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 20c to 1240.

One of this year's top performers, NZX, pulled back 15c to 900.

Recently listed Pacific Brands dropped 7c to 268, while Pacific Retail rose 4c to 200.

Scott Technology fell 7c to 305 and Baycorp Advantage fell 7c to 297.

Westpac NZ fell 20c to 1880, despite posting a strong result last week and announcing a A$500 million ($575 million) share buyback that will also apply to the New Zealand stock on a pro-rata basis.

There were 21 stocks up and 49 down among the 121 traded in the first 10 minutes.

- NZPA