NZ stocks: Market sluggish as war talk scares investors

12.00pm

New Zealand's sharemarket had another sluggish start to the day as war talk forced Wall St to take another dip overnight.

Just after 11am the NZSE-40 capital index was down 3.41 points to 1973.35 on turnover of 4.2 million shares worth $16 million.

The turnover looked healthy but much of it was due to crossings of one million Telecom shares overnight, said DF Mainland broker Sam Macdonald.

"There is nothing happening. It is very, very quiet."

Overnight, US stocks fell to multi-year closing lows as investors prepared for a speech by President George W Bush on Iraq scheduled for around noon NZT.

That added to worries over battered corporate profits and the strength of the world's largest economy.

The tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index fell 20.38 points, or 1.79 per cent, to finish at 1,119.52, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial average, which moved either side of unchanged throughout the session, ended down 105.36 points, or 1.4 per cent, at 7,423.04.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 15.30 points, or 1.91 per cent, to 785.28.

Dominating this morning's trading in New Zealand was Telecom, which came off another 1c to 488, on $10.5 million worth of shares -- in line with broker expectations.

"I don't think it's going to come back much lower than this," said Mr Macdonald.

"At the end of the day everyone was waiting for this Verizon stake to disappear, because that was the big cap on it, and I guess you will get a false reading out of what's happening in the US. That will drag the stock. But if that market turns, Telecom will certainly be back through $5 again."

Newly-listed Turner's Auctions continued to come off its debut high of $2.41. It was down 2c to 219, supporting theories that the opening price had been somewhat "overheated" although it is regarded as a quality stock.

Other moves included WestpacTrust down 20c to 1465, Sky City up 5c to 730, and Sky City Leisure, formerly Force Corp, was up 44c to 165 after its shares consolidated 25-for-one yesterday.

Port of Tauranga was down 10c to 820, UnitedNetworks rose a cent to 986, and AMP slid 10c to 1305 as the Australian trading session kicked in after a public holiday in most states yesterday.

There have been 18 rises and 35 falls on 93 stocks traded so far.

- NZPA