NZ stocks: Market driven upwards by Contact, Telecom

12.00pm

New Zealand shares were trading in green pastures this morning with both of the market's major indices showing rises.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 11.29 points, or 0.53 per cent, at 2158.27, while the NZSX-40 capital index rose 9.60 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 2088.55.

Shares worth $20 million, on volume of 7.8 million, were traded this morning. Among the 99 stocks traded there were 30 rises and 21 falls.

Forsyth Barr broker David Price said the sharemarket's gains could be pinned to strong performances by Contact Energy and market leader Telecom.

Contact sprinted 10c ahead to 482 after posting a strong June quarter net profit.

The energy company reported a nine month net profit of $74.2 million for the nine months to June 30 but its June quarter net profit was $40 million.

"It was a good quality result and that's been the main driver today," Mr Price told NZPA.

At 11.30am, Telecom was up 5c to 513. The telco traded $5.8 million worth of shares on volume of 658,274.

Another mover was NZX, which was down 5c to 485 after reporting a June half year profit of $584,000, down from $1.9 million for the previous six months.

Air New Zealand was up 1c to 50 after announcing today it was confident of returning a pre-tax $200 million year profit before one-off influences such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).

Guinness Peat Group (GPG) shares were down 1c to 157 despite last night confirming its $200 million capital notes issue would be over-subscribed and a $25 million subscription facility would be used.

Other shares on the rise on NZX included: Auckland International Airport up 3c to 600, Fletcher Building up 3c to 400, Restaurant Brands up 1c to 127, Sky City up 7c to 927, Sky City Leisure up 6c to 125, Steel & Tube up 5c to 365, DB Breweries up 9c to 700, Michael Hill up 10c to 420, and Westpac up 5c to 1725.

On the slide were: AMP down 1c to 542, Fisher & Paykel Appliances down 4c to 1346, F&P Healthcare down 10c to 1165, Ports of Auckland down 10c to 750, and TrustPower down 5c to 460.

In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 4.41 points to 9200.05, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 1.63 points to 987.65, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 9.42 points to 1,721.95.

- NZPA