NZ stocks: Market down, Telecom regains lost ground

Market leader Telecom recovered from a 7c tumble at the start of today's session, but the New Zealand sharemarket remained in the red.

By late morning the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was down 0.47 per cent, or 10.96 points, at 2298.04, while the top-40 index was down 0.53 per cent at 2198.57.

On Wall St, in the midst of a mixed reporting season, the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 2.2 per cent to 1898.07; the Dow Jones industrial average sank 1.5 per cent to 9598.24; and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.5 per cent to 1030.36.

In London the FTSE-100 share index closed down 66.7 points, or 1.5 per cent, at 4285.6, its biggest one-day fall since July 1.

By late morning Telecom was down 3c at to 493.

Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said Telecom was recovering from its early fall after the slide in markets overnight.

"There's been some selling over the last few of weeks, it's been off and on, but it seems to be on at the moment."

No 2 stock Carter Holt Harvey was down 6c at 177 despite yesterday's better than expected third quarter profit of $70 million.

"Carter Holt is still a cyclical stock and still has a lot of exposure to pulp, paper, and forestry which of course are poor performers, whereas some of its more higher margin stuff like tissues and other packaging has been doing pretty well," Mr Wright said.

Air New Zealand was down 2c at 51 ahead of today's Commerce Commission decision on whether it can forge an alliance with Qantas.

The two airlines have appealed a negative ruling already delivered from the Australian competition watchdog.

"People are just adopting a cautious attitude... " he said.

That caution outweighed the positive news from Air NZ yesterday as it told shareholders at its annual meeting it was likely to meet or beat the most recent $220 million profit.

Discount retailer The Warehouse was up 1c at 585 as it opened its largest store today in Whangarei.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances was down 4c at 1495 and its sister stock F&P Healthcare shed 10c to 1235, AMP lost 10c to 740 on trading of about 1000 shares, and Waste Management was down 7c at 377.

Trans Tasman Properties was down 1c at 35 after shareholders voted yesterday in favour of a takeover offer for Australian Growth Properties.

Sky City was up 3c at 869, Baycorp Advantage gained 5c to 289, and newly listed 42 Below was up 1c at 37.

ANZ was up 5c at 2125 ahead of its annual result tomorrow, Mainfreight rose 2c to 144, Restaurant Brands gained 3c to 134, and Tourism Holdings Ltd was up 1c at 155.

Telecom's $5.13 million turnover topped total volume of 8.28 million stocks, valued at $16.8 million.

There were 29 rises and 27 falls on the 111 stocks traded.

- NZPA