NZ stocks: Market edges lower as Telecom gives ground

12.00pm

The sharemarket eased back today as leader Telecom gave ground ahead of its result tomorrow.

The NZ50 gross index was down 5.36 to 1972.70 and the top 40 capital index was down 6,84 points at 1956.20 at 11.30am. Turnover was worth $26.7 million with beleaguered AMP topping the trading at $8.7 million.

It fell another 11c to 576 and traded earlier at a new record low of 570. That is 42 per cent below where it closed last Thursday before its restructuring was announced. Hedge funds were yesterday reported to be short-selling the stock on the expectation it would drop lower.

"It will be interesting to see how they arrest the slide," ASB Securities brokers Stephen Wright said.

Lead stock Telecom initially firmed a couple of cents but then fell back to be 3c down at 470 on yesterday's closing price.

Telecom's net income is forecast to have risen 12 per cent to $188 million in the three months ended March 31, according to the median forecast of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 9c to 1081 after announcing it had settled a patent dispute with Australia's ResMed over its anti-snoring masks. It would not say how much money was paid.

Sister company Fisher & Paykel Appliances fell 4c to 1080.

Fletcher Forests rose 3c to 100. Yesterday it said it would pay $7.5 million to the receivers of the Central North Island Forest Partnership to resolve long-running disputes over the estate.

The company has also calculated it will lose $10 million in benefits from losing the management agreement for the 163,000ha estate.

Westpac, which reported a half-year net profit of A$1 billion, saw its NZ shares fall 20c to 1650.

Among other moves, Colonial Motors rose 8c to 340, Software of Excellence rose 7c to 145, Mowbray rose 3c to 80c and Pacific Retail rose 5c to 215.

All up, there were 28 rises and 29 falls among the 96 stocks traded.

- NZPA