NZ stocks: Market treads quietly with indices little changed

12.00pm

New Zealand stocks were trading quietly today, with the leading indices remaining virtually where they left off yesterday.

By late morning the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 0.01 per cent, or 0.32 points, at 2311.28, while the top-40 index was up 0.12 per cent at 2212.82.

Market leader Telecom was unchanged at 501, while No 2 stock Carter Holt retreated 2c to 183 ahead of its third quarter result tomorrow.

On Wall St the blue-chip Dow Jones industrials rose 0.58 per cent to 9777.94; the Standard & Poor's 500 added 0.52 per cent to 1044.68; and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.67 per cent to 1925.14.

In London the FTSE-100 benchmark index closed up 3.5 points at 4347.5.

In New Zealand, late morning turnover of 7.25 million stocks was valued at $28.71 million.

James Snell of First NZ Capital said many participants were currently out of the market, with various visits and presentations taking place around New Zealand and Australia.

The annual meeting season was also in full swing.

"Obviously the volumes are (also) impacted a bit by the extra daylight hour we have between here and Australia.

"The prices are a few cents either side of neutral, so it's a pretty quiet start to the day."

Auckland International Airport rose 3c to 643, The Warehouse lifted 3c to 574, AMP was up 10c at 790 on fewer than 10,000 stocks, BIL International gained 1c to 72, Sky City rose 1c to 867, and Sky TV gained 2c to 497.

After striking fresh highs daily since late last week on a positive outlook for its foray into the lucrative US dryer market, Fisher & Paykel Appliances was unchanged at 1518.

Guinness Peat Group rose 1c to 175, Air New Zealand was up 1c at 53, Cavalier rose 2c to 550, Infratil was up 2c at 232, Port of Lyttelton rose 1c to 170, and Powerco was up 1c at 190.

Jeweller Michael Hill was up 1c at 429 after releasing generally positive third quarter sales figures yesterday, particularly for its Australian business which boosted sales by 17.2 per cent.

Contact Energy lost 1c to 508, Tranz Rail was down 1c at 125, F&P Healthcare shed 5c to 1245, NZX lost 1c to 470, Mainfreight was down 1c at 141, Designer Textiles fell 1c to 102, and Hellaby Holdings was down 5c at 485.

There were 40 rises and 18 falls on the 116 stocks traded.

- NZPA