NZ stocks: Market eases as four-day rally broken

12.00pm

The sharemarket broke a four-day rally today with the top 50 index retreating in late morning trading after having been up in early action.

Market heavyweight Telecom made new three-year highs today of 615, up 3c on Friday, but later eased back to square at 612.

The company is due to report its annual result on Thursday and analysts expect further signals on dividends and or capital returns.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 4.26 points to 2783.75 by 11.30am. In the first hour of trading it touched a new all-time high of 2791.6. The NZSX-All capital index was down 1.22 to 936.36.

Turnover was typically light for a Monday with 9.6 million shares traded, worth $32.6 million, of which $9.6m was in Telecom.

No 2 stock Carter Holt Harvey, which gained 6c on Friday, fell back 2c today 219.

Fishing company Sanford fell 3c to 460 after a good rally last week, Westpac NZ rose 5c to 1795 while insurer Promina rose 4c to 435 to continue its rally, and Nuplex fell 6c top 530.

Auckland Airport fell 4c to 704, Fletcher Building eased back 4c to 494 and Waste Management fell 5c to 480.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 8c to 1360, Mainfreight rose 4c to 205, Williams & Kettle rose 10c to 310 and Pyne Gould Corp rose 5c to 585.

Thirty-two stocks went up and 37 went down among the 132 traded in the first 10 minutes.

- NZPA