NZ stocks: Market heads down for fourth day in succession

The sharemarket slipped through the morning, with both major indices giving up ground, continuing on its fourth successive day of falls.

The NZSX-50 gross index was down 3.37 points at 2174.72 at 11.30am while the NZSX-40 capital index was down just 1.32 points at 2101.02.

Volume was reasonable at $32.4 million, boosted by good turnover in a number of leading Australian stocks listed here.

But Telecom was still the most traded stock with $9.1 million worth of shares changing hands. It slid under $5, down 4c at 496.

Forsyth Barr broker David Price said the while the indices were down, the drops were not significant.

"Most of the stocks have held up pretty well today off the back of their results; Nuplex's today, Wrightson's yesterday," Mr Price told NZPA.

Nuplex continued the trend of strong company results this season, posting a 63 per cent rise in net profit to $20.7 million. Its shares were up 2c at 393.

Wrightson responded to chairman John Palmer's complaint yesterday that investors were undervaluing the company.

It rose 3c to 138 after earlier hitting a record of 141 earlier today, on the back of a $18.5 million year net profit announced yesterday.

"On balance the market's reacted well to the results," Mr Price said.

"I suppose the retailers were one's who suffered the most. Even now The Warehouse is pretty weak."

The Warehouse continued its rollercoaster ride, dropping 9c today to 486. Since former chief executive Greg Muir resigned suddenly at the end of May, the discount retailer has taken investors on a wild ride between 422 and 524.

"Michael Hill (International) had a couple of very bad days after the announcement Farmers would stock Pascoes jewellery," Mr Price said.

Michael Hill shares were up 7c to 412, after yesterday plummeting 20c to 405 as the market reacted to the news of the relationship between Farmers and Pascoes.

"The retail sector has certainly been handed out a fairly severe beating, but outside of that the market, in general, has been relatively buoyant," Mr Price said.

The local market failed to heed positive direction from the US where stocks climbed after a fresh batch of economic data provided evidence that the economy may finally be recovering.

Technology stocks led the rally as the Nasdaq pushed to a fresh 16-month high, up 17.01 points, or 0.97 per cent, to 1777.55.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average climbed 26.17 points to 9423.68, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 2.97 points to 1003.27.

Fletcher Building, another to have posted a strong result, gained 2c to 413, recouping from the placement this week of 25 million shares at 410 issued to help pay for Tasman Building Products.

Northport was up 7c at 305 following its result yesterday, while Skellmax, another to report, was down 1c to 116. It reported a flat $12.6 million net profit yesterday. Westpac NZ was up 15c at 1720.

Despite the market being down, rises outnumbered falls 25-24 among the 106 stocks traded.

- NZPA