NZ stocks: Market shows slight negative drift in morning trading

12.00pm

The sharemarket opened quietly with both indices showing a slight negative drift throughout the morning.

At 11.30am the NZSX50 gross index fell 3.13 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 2128.68, while the NZSX40 capital index was down 2.59 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2071.16.

So far today there has been $25.1 million of shares traded on volume of 8.7 million. Among the 92 stocks traded were 26 rises and 27 falls.

Market leader Telecom was down 3c at 502, having traded $9.2 million on volume of 2.6 million.

JB Were institutional adviser Joe Gallagher said the market was flat and trading on low volume.

But a standout feature was Tranz Rail, up 2c at 97, Mr Gallagher said.

"Tranz Rail was trading above the Toll (Holdings) takeover price," he told NZPA.

"The share price is telling you that many in the market believe Toll's not going to get it (Tranz Rail) at 95c."

Australian logistics company Toll has offered Tranz Rail shareholders 95c a share in a bid to takeover the cash-strapped rail operator.

Shares on the rise today included: AMP up 3c to 573, Auckland International Airport up 2c at 584, Contact Energy up 4c to 468, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 15c to 1285, Guinness Peat Group up 1c to 155, Pacific Retail up 2c to 210, and Sky City up 10c to 885.

On the slide were: ANZ Bank down 47c to 1950, Carter Holt Harvey down 2c to 172, NZX down 5c to 445, Restaurant Brands down 2c to 134, and Westpac down 5c to 1680.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 66 points to 9158, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index eased 5 points to 1003.

But the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 2 points at 1748. In London, the FTSE 100 index slid 18.9 points to close at a median 4054.7 points.

- NZPA