NZ stocks: Market slips in session thin on corporate news

12.17pm


The New Zealand sharemarket slipped slightly this morning in a session with no stand-out performers and thin on corporate news, a broker said.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 was down 6.43 points at 2363.03, while the NZSX-40 capital index was down 3.42 points at 2209.34.

There was $31.6 million worth of shares traded on volume of 9.5 million.

Among the 105 stocks traded were 27 rises and 31 falls.

Market heavyweight Telecom was down 3c at 516, having traded $10.6 million worth on volume of two million.

ABN Amro Craigs broker Matt Willis said there was little corporate news about to prop the market up.

"There's no real stand-outs today in terms movements, but quite clearly there's some reasonably solid trading going on," Mr Willis told NZPA today.

"It's interesting times and the theme of the sharemarkets here and in Australia is interest rates."

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is due to review its official cash rate (OCR) tomorrow with the market 50/50 on whether it will be bumped up or left as is.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) today increased its OCR by 0.25 percentage points to 5.25 per cent amid a global improvement in economic conditions.

The Australian economy had also strengthened considerably since the middle of the year, the RBA said.

Meanwhile, Mainfreight was down 1c at 137 after yesterday confirming a $16 million placement of 12.62 million shares at 127c each, to help pay for its purchase of rival Owens Group.

Mainfreight, which also said it was planning a $20 million rights issue early next year, owns 79.6 per cent of Owens.

"With the news that there is a rights issue overhanging I suppose you could say the price is holding up quiet well," Mr Willis said.

Shares in discount retailer The Warehouse Group were up 7c at 509 after losing 49c -- nearly 9 per cent -- since Thursday last week.

On Friday last week the company said its poor-performing Australian companies were taking longer to turn around than expected.

"We certainly believe the (current) share price well and truly undervalues the New Zealand business alone," Mr Willis said.

ABN Amro Craigs valued The Warehouse Group at 637, with New Zealand unit accounting for about 600 of that, he said.

"The aussie business represents negative value in the share price."

Sky City shares were unchanged at 454, after yesterday giving up 9c when it confirmed plans to renovate its Adelaide casino at a higher cost than first expected.

Shares on the rise today included: Air New Zealand up 1c at 47, Briscoe Group up 2c at 164, GRD Macraes up 30c at 225, Hellaby up 4c at 494, Michael Hill International up 7c at 475, Postie Plus up 3c at 105, and Turners Auctions up 2c at 432.

Among those on the slide were: Auckland International Airport down 3c at 667, Baycorp Advantage down 3c at 289, Carter Holt Harvey down 1c at 186, Independent Newspapers Ltd down 5c at 505, NGC Holdings down 2c at 200, and Steel & Tube down 4c at 371.

There had been $4135 worth of shares traded on the New Zealand Alternative Exchange.

Overseas, the Dow Jones was down 35.76 points at 9863.29, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 2.41 points at 1067.71, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 4.85 points at 1984.97.

- NZPA