NZ stocks: Market squares off as Wall St regains ground

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket squared up again today after it fell yesterday in line with sliding markets offshore.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 was down 1.92 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 2049.53, which although negative was better than yesterday's 17-point fall.

Turnover was light -- 9.67 million stocks valued at $16.38 million.

Richard Burton at Forsyth Barr Frater Williams said Vertex continued to be sold off after the plastics manufacturer, which listed in July, issued a profit warning yesterday. Vertex shares were down 5c at 133.

"There's not a lot of confidence in that (stock)," Mr Burton said.

Vertex has been savaged by the sharemarket for issuing a profit warning just 9-1/2 weeks after its $61 million float, as a result of poorer than expected sales and cost problems in the company's fastest-growing business, the Hamilton-based Technical Injection.

"The market's been disappointed. Vertex had a forecast that was above what its traditional businesses made in the past, and it's the new part that they've been expanding into that hasn't performed.

"The other problem there is when you have a stock with 100 per cent free-float like Vertex, there's no major shareholder. When all the shareholders want to get out at the same time it can mean the stock gets oversold," he said.

"When things have a hiccup that's a bad sign, and I guess that's what happened to Baycorp."

Trans-Tasman debt collector Baycorp Advantage was down a further 5c at 380 as fallout continued from its annual loss, on the back of large write-downs stemming from the merger of Baycorp and Data Advantage in December.

"The market's not happy with their earnings ... I think the market's lost a bit of confidence in that stock, and probably in the sector (debt collection and business information)," he said.

"No merger between a New Zealand and an Aussie company has produced the benefits that have been talked about, normally the benefits are difficult to achieve and take longer than expected."

Tranz Rail, the subject of speculation about its finances and the viability of its credit rating, bounced today up 12c to 152.

Elsewhere on the market, Telecom rose 1c to 503, Sky City was up 5c at 717, BIL International gained 2c to 63, Skellmax was up 2c at 103 and The Warehouse rose 1c to 730.

Auckland International Airport lost 1c to 419, Contact Energy was down 2c at 392, Carter Holt Harvey shed 3c to 176, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 10c to 955 and Appliances was down 8c at 1007.

There were 35 falls and 23 rises on the 99 stocks traded.

On Wall St stocks rose as bargain-seeking buyers returned after Tuesday's selling rout. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 115.82 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 8423.87; the Nasdaq composite added 28.05 points, or 2.22 per cent, to 1291.89; and the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 added 15.31 points, or 1.74 per cent, to 893.33.

- NZPA