NZ stocks: Market pushed off highs by profit takers

12.00 pm

The New Zealand sharemarket was nudged from yesterday's eight-month high today by profit taking on market leader Telecom.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 capital index was down 4.36 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 2102.84.

Offshore markets were also down with Dow Jones Index, Nikkei and FTSE ending their sessions in negative territory.

Turnover of 4.77 million stocks, valued at $11.73 million, was topped by Telecom's 1.07 million stocks worth $5.77 million.

David Fergusson of Greenslades said Telecom was trading on the local market about the equivalent of its price in the US.

"Telecom is leading the market down. Also the other telco, Telstra, is down as well (down 5c at 675).

"There was a keen buyer (of Telecom) on the Wednesday, and they came into the market a bit yesterday as well, and there's just a few profit takers out there at this level who bought about 460 mark a wee while ago. It's not a bad profit, 80c," Mr Fergusson said.

Telecom has surged 31 per cent since it hit an eight-year low of 413 on October 24, and is up 8.4 per cent so far this year. With a 22 per cent weighting, Telecom has helped lift the barometer NZSE-40 capital index to an eight-month high of 2107.2.

Retailer Briscoe Group continued to trade in a tight range about 160, he said, and had gained 1c by mid-morning to reach that level.

Elsewhere on the market Carter Holt Harvey continued to bob around five-month highs, down 1c at 180.

Powerco was up 4c at 195, Tranz Rail rose 3c to 405, New Zealand Refining was up 20c at 1845 on tiny volume, Waste Management gained 2c to 317, and BIL International, the renamed Brierley Investments, was up 2c at 32.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare lost 4c to 1626, Fletcher Building shed 2c to 294, UnitedNetworks lost 3c to 805, and meat companies Affco Holdings and Richmond lost 1c to 32 and 5c to 240 respectively.

There were 32 rises and 16 falls on the 91 stocks traded.

On Wall Street the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index closed up 2.35 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 2047.24; the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average slipped 26.23 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 10,067.86; and the broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index was little changed, up 1.41 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 1156.55.

- NZPA