NZ stocks: Market stays positive despite war worries

12.00pm

Solid buying in Warehouse and Fletcher Building shares pushed the sharemarket into positive territory this morning.

Brokers said some stocks, notably The Warehouse, had recovered from oversold positions, but the overall mood was cautious because of concern about the situation in Iraq.

The NZSE-40 capital index was up 6.87 points to 1942.71 on turnover worth $23.4 million just after 11am. US stocks fell to four month lows on Friday night.

The Warehouse recovered 22c to 610, having shed 6 per cent on Friday and 13 per cent on the previous trading day's trading on Wednesday following a poorly received Christmas sales report.

JB Were broker Peter Stokes said the discount retailer had formed a base on Friday afternoon with some investors assessing it as oversold.

Another stock to have taken a battering last week, Westpac NZ, recovered 15c to 1390.

Contact Energy and Fletcher Building, two of the best performing leaders this year, continued to trade well. Contact was up 7c to 427 and the outlook is seen positive, with the prospect of a dry winter looming and the longer term outlook for new power generation looking uncertain following a determination on Friday on the size of the Maui gas field.

Fletcher Building, expected to report a $70 million six month net profit on Wednesday, was up 7c to 376 -- its highest in nearly five years.

Two other stocks also under the hammer last week, AMP and Sky City Entertainment, made partial recoveries, AMP rising a cent to 920, and Sky up 15c to 860.

Takeover target Richmond was the most actively traded stock, up 2c to 300 on 2.1 million shares worth over $6.3 million. It later emerged North Meats had upped its stake to more than 7 per cent.

Another takeover target, Goodman Fielder, was down 3c at 190.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, due to report on Friday, was up 10c to 1035.

Cedenco, which put out a profit warning on Friday, fell 25c to 165.

Mooring Systems, which has announced potential major sale to the port of Dover in Britain, rose 10c to 135.

Other movers included Hellaby, up 3c to 352, Port of Tauranga, down 8c to 437, Ryman Healthcare, up 6c to 160, and Steel & Tube, down 5c to 315.

Telecom was up 1c to 446.

There were 29 rises and 30 falls among the 96 stocks traded.

- NZPA