NZ stocks: Market resilient in wake of overseas terror attacks

6.25pm - By KATE PERRY

The New Zealand sharemarket showed resilience in the wake of last night's terrorist bombings in Spain with strong turnover pushing up both major indices.

While other major markets around the world were spooked by the attacks, the local market held firm despite a slightly shaky start.

The NZSX-50 and NZSX-40 both started the day's session down and continued in the red for much of the day, but a late rally by Telecom helped push the indices into positive territory.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index ended today's session up 2.46 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 2514.58 and the NZSX-40 index up 3.25 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 2299.46.

At around 7.30pm NZ time yesterday 10 simultaneous bomb blasts ripped through commuter trains in Madrid killing at least 192 people and injuring 1421.

The Spanish government blamed Basque separatist group ETA, but there has also been speculation about a possible al Qaeda link.

ASB Securities broker Stephen Wright said investor sentiment was slightly negative after the attacks, but added the impact on New Zealand's sharemarket was minimal. "Obviously it doesn't encourage much buying, but generally speaking there was no panic selling," he said.

He said that airport and airline stocks were usually the hardest hit after terrorist attacks, but the sector held up well today.

Auckland International Airport was steady at 653c and Air New Zealand was also unchanged at 39 cents.

Market leader Telecom continued its strong run, up 1c at 590c. Telecom's turnover of $51.9 million made up the bulk of the market's $97.4 million turnover.

Falls outweighed rises, with 46 stocks down today, compared with 42 rises among the 146 stocks traded. Northland Port Corporation rose 10c to 275c, despite yesterday revising down its full year profit forecast by $750,000.

It was the second time the company had reduced its profit outlook since January.

With no major domestic corporate news out today, the main local influence on the market was the continued slide of the New Zealand dollar, which was buying US63.40c at 5pm tonight, down more than US2 cents from the same time Thursday.

But the terror attacks took the gloss off the benefits of the weak kiwi, with F&P Healthcare one of the few export stocks to rise, up 6c to 1165c,

Other stocks on the move included: Carter Holt Harvey down 1c at 198c, Contact Energy down 2c at 516c, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 4c at 440c, Guinness Peat Group down 4c at 197c, Lion Nathan up 5c at 680c, Michael Hill Jeweller up 5c at 535c, Nuplex down 4c at 464c, The Warehouse up 6c at 445c and Waste Management up 5c at 427c

- NZPA