NZ stocks: Market loses some of its recent gains in morning trading

12.30pm

The sharemarket lost some of its recent gains during morning trading today, with both major indices falling below yesterday's levels.

At 12pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was down 4.16 points at 2267.33, while the while the NZSX-40 capital index was down 2.24 points at 2169.86.

So far today, New Zealand Exchange (NZX) has seen $24.4 million worth of shares traded on volume of 8.8 million.

Among the 118 stocks traded were 34 falls and 30 rises.

Market heavyweight Telecom was unchanged at 565. It had traded $6.5 million worth on volume of 1.2 million.

UBS Warburg spokesman Richard Leggat said trading on NZX had been quiet and prices had remained relatively stable.

"The interesting thing is the Wrightson stand at 145c (per share) is making slow progress today," he told NZPA today.

Shares in agricultural firm Wrightson were up 1c at 148 after yesterday gaining 15c when Rural Portfolio Investments (RPI) made a play for a 19.9 per cent stake.

Yesterday RPI, which is linked to former Fonterra head Craig Norgate, made a $200 million stand in the market, offering 145c for each Wrightson share.

The company secured 8.1 million Wrightson shares, a 5.95 per cent stake.

"The market thinks the offer is too low," Mr Leggat said, adding that Rural Portfolio had bought a further one million Wrightson shares today.

Powerco shares were up 5c at 190 after confirming it had raised $175 million in a private placement of 11-to-13 year term senior debt to United States institutional investors.

In other sharemarket news, Pacific Retail Group (PRG) is holding its annual meeting today. PRG shares were unchanged on 237c.

Shares on the slide included: AMP down 5c at 745, Carter Holt Harvey down 4c at 170, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 5c at 1250, Ports of Auckland down 8c at 802, Sky City Leisure down 2c at 113, and The Warehouse down 5c at 530.

Shares on the rise included: Auckland International Airport up 5c at 672, Briscoe Group up 2c at 180, Independent Newspapers up 1c at 453, Pyne Gould Guinness Corporation up 4c at 124, and Tower up 2c at 119.

Overseas, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 40.63 points to 9576.04, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 6.21 points to 1029.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 27.10 points to 1901.72.

- NZPA