NZ stocks: Market propped up by trading in Telecom

An afternoon rally in sharemarket gorilla Telecom propped up an otherwise lacklustre day's trading, a broker said.

At 5pm, the benchmark NZSX50 gross index was up 0.71 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 2104.99, while the NZSX40 capital index rose 0.28 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 2048.12.

ASB Securities broker Andrew Kelleher said both indices had drifted downwards in morning trading, but tip-toed into the positive on the back of Telecom.

The market-leading telco was down 3c at 11.30am, but closed 5c up at 500. It had traded $48.7 million worth on turnover of 9.8 million.

"The $100 million turnover was mostly big numbers in Telecom. It has to be seen in context," Mr Kelleher told NZPA today.

The market saw $100.3 million of stock traded on turnover of 33.2 million. Among the 129 stocks traded were 43 rises and 46 falls.

Carter Holt Harvey finished down 1c at 162, on the back of their result yesterday and news of potential write-offs.

"It's a sentiment thing. People see the headline and you get a reaction to that," Mr Kelleher said.

"The result hasn't really inspired the market and its going to knock around the 160 cent level until people get a bit more comfortable."

Stocks on the rise included: AMP up 14c to 577, Auckland International Airport up 5c to 570, NGC Holdings up 5c to 162, Promina up 3c to 270, Telstra up 4c to 527, and Westpac up 5c to 1705.

On the slide were: ANZ Bank down 10c to 1990, Fisher & Paykel Appliances down 5c to 1280, F&P Healthcare down 10c to 1140, NZX down 10c to 480, The Warehouse down 3c to 472, and Sky City down 20c to 868.

On offshore markets overnight, United States stocks eased as Wall Street frowned on lacklustre earnings news from Ford Motor Co and others and worried about rising interest rates after the bond market's Tuesday sell-off.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average fell 34 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 9095. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 dropped six points, or 0.64 per cent, to 994, and the tech-laced Nasdaq Composite fell five points, or 0.30 per cent, to 1748.

Markets also eased in London and Tokyo.

- NZPA