NZ stocks: Market flat, both major indices finish positively

The sharemarket turned in a flat performance on low volume today with both major indices tiptoeing into positive territory.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 2.13 points at 2341.99, its highest since it was introduced in March.

The NZSX-40 capital index was up 3.17 points at 2229.67.

By market's close there had been $67.8 million worth of shares traded on volume of 25.7 million. Among the 133 stocks traded were 43 rises and 43 falls.

Bourse heavyweight Telecom dominated trading, its shares finishing up a cent at 505 after trading $18.6 million worth on volume of 3.6 million.

Macquarie Equities NZ investment director Arthur Lim said Tower was the stand-out performer today, finishing up 5c at 137 on 1 million shares traded.

Analysts say Tower, which was earlier this year forced to raise $211 capital to satisfy debt, was showing signs of good health.

Merrill Lynch in Australia have upped their recommendation on the stock to "buy" from "neutral" and upgraded next year's full-year net profit by 30 per cent, the Australian Financial Review reported today.

Furthermore, heavy trading in Tower shares in the last two weeks led to speculation that an Australian company was building a stake in the insurer.

"The stock has gone up on reasonably good volume today," Mr Lim said.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand shares closed unchanged on 46 after it and Qantas announced they are appealing a Commerce Commission against their proposed alliance.

AMP shares were down 21c at 665 after it sought a court ruling on whether its plans to spinoff its United Kingdom unit would constitute a default.

Promina shares were up 10c at 380 after analysts upgraded its earnings forecast to A$230 million ($262.64 million) to A$300 million for the 2003 calendar year.

Restaurant Brands stock was down 3c at 111 after it issued a $2 million profit downgrade this week, blaming it on its fried chicken chain, KFC.

In other market news, Repco debuted on both the New Zealand and Australian exchanges. At 5pm in Wellington, Repco shares were fetching 293. The company has 166.8 million shares on issue.

Shares on the rise included: Auckland International Airport up 5c at 684, Fletcher Building up 1c at 414, Ports of Auckland up 24c at 810, TrustPower up 5c at 600, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 4c at 372, and Wrightson up 1c at 147.

Among those on the slide were: Cavalier down 2c at 558, Lion Nathan down 5c at 653, Tourism Holdings down 2c at 147, Hellaby down 5c at 450, and The Warehouse down 15c at 565.

There had been $37,500 worth of shares traded on the New Zealand Alternative Exchange with no rise and one fall on three stocks traded.

Overseas, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 81 points to 9706, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 10 points at 1044, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 22 points at 1903.

- NZPA