NZ stocks: Market registers small rise

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket had a small rise today after gains in offshore markets overnight.

By late morning the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 0.26 per cent, or 6.0 points, at 2299.45 while the top-40 index gained 0.22 per cent to 2196.00.

On Wall St the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.66 per cent to 1885.51; the Dow Jones industrial average added 0.16 per cent to 9613.13; and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 was up 0.33 per cent at 1033.74.

In London the FTSE-100 share index closed down 1.1 per cent at 4240.2.

In New Zealand, turnover of 10.62 million, valued at $23.86 million, was topped by Telecom's $9.1 million worth of shares traded.

There were 35 rises and 19 falls on the 111 stocks traded.

ANZ Bank was placed in a trading halt this morning ahead of an expected announcement on its bid for Lloyds TSB's National Bank. Shares in the Australian bank closed yesterday at 2125.

Air New Zealand was unchanged at 49, having shed 4c yesterday on the second rejection of its proposed alliance with Qantas from the Commerce Commission.

Market leader Telecom was up 2c at 494, Contact Energy was up 1c at 502, Fletcher Building gained 2c to 440, Carter Holt Harvey rose 2c to 180, Auckland International Airport rose 3c to 650, Sky City was up 10c at 879, and rural services company Wrightson rose 1c to 150.

Baycorp Advantage was up 2c at 286, Postie Plus rose 2c to 123, Metlifecare gained 7c to 197, and fish exporter Sanford was up 4c at 529 on just 1500 shares.

Tranz Rail was up 2c at 123, Mainfreight rose 2c to 144, and Freightways was up 3c at 184.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances shed 5c to 1495, Fletcher Forests was down 1c at 129, NZX lost 1c to 465, and Ports of Auckland was down 5c at 845.

- NZPA