NZ stocks: Montana shares boost sharemarket turnover

The New Zealand sharemarket registered good volume at the open this morning, the majority of which was a parcel of Montana shares.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 capital index was down 6.50 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 2075.35, with 10.82 million stocks changing hands.

Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said about $22 million worth of the $40.8 million in turnover was a in Montana shares.

"I guess it's someone who doesn't want to wait to collect their 480 from the takeover, and is taking 479 less whatever brokerage costs now," Mr Wright said.

"The other stand out in terms of volume which we haven't seen for a long while is Telstra, and the reason for that is they had a pretty good profit result yesterday. Although the outlook is flat I think we might see a bit more demand for the stock."

Yesterday Telstra, Australia's largest company by market value, announced a 10.4 per cent rise in net profit for the year to $A4.1 billion ($NZ5.0 billion).

However, Telstra, up 5c at 595 today, warned that full-year profit from operations rose just 4.6 per cent and will slow as competition intensifies from Telecom New Zealand and Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd.

Fletcher Challenge spin off Rubicon was down 4c at 78 after two big days of buying from Credit Suisse First Boston as part of a previously announced share buy back -- 23 million stocks snapped up yesterday and 16 million the day before.

"I calculate that of the 95 million shares they said were possibly going to be bought back, they've bought back all bar about 27 million of them."

Auckland International Airport, unchanged at 388, reported a 15 per cent rise in net profit to $59.1 million net profit today for the June year.

"Very good...I'm very happy with that. I think the price won't move on it because a good result was expected and it's had a very solid run already, but it's a nice result and is rewarding for long-term shareholders," Mr Wright said.

"I think it's had its run and will probably stay in the 380s today. Over time it's been a good (company) like Fisher & Paykel, like Baycorp etc, but these stocks always anticipate profits."

Telecom was down 1c at 508 after opening down 3c, Air New Zealand domestic A shares were down 3c at 101 and the freely held Bs were unchanged at 125 ahead of the Government's decision on Monday about whether to raise the foreign ownership cap.

Carter Holt Harvey was down 2c at 169, Contact Energy lost 3c to 345, Fletcher Forests shed 1c to 31, and casino operator Sky City was down 5c at 1185.

Tranz Rail was down 5c at 445, Vending Technologies lost 13c to 297, Fisher & Paykel was down 5c at 1440, and Lion Nathan was down 5c at 580.

New Zealand's largest tourism company Tourism Holdings rose 5c to 148 after reporting a $13 million net profit yesterday for the year to the end of June.

Freight forwarder Mainfreight was up 2c at 132, The Warehouse was up 2c at 597, UnitedNetworks was up 10c at 850 on minimal turnover, and Ports of Auckland rose 5c to 570.

There were 29 falls and 21 rises on the 96 stocks traded.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 131.13 points, or 1.28 per cent, to 10,090.90; the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 12.95 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 1148.56; and the technology-loaded Nasdaq composite index slipped 21.81 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 1843.17.

- NZPA