NZ stocks: More positive Wall St flows through

12.00pm

A better day on Wall Street flowed through onto the New Zealand sharemarket this morning, with Telecom leading the way.

At 11am the NZSE-40 capital index was up 15.21 points at 2122.91, albeit on a light turnover of $21 million.

Telecom dragged the market up, gaining 8c to 518 on turnover worth $4.5 million. New York-listed Telecom -- which is proving attractive to offshore investors wanting a slice of the rising New Zealand dollar -- announced with rival TelstraClear last night that they had found a commercial interim solution to their dispute over interconnection charges.

Air New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock, rising 2c to 65c on turnover of 1.8 million shares worth $1.2 million. The stock, which has made massive gains lately, fell 8c yesterday after news that travel agents might blacklist the airline for cancelling domestic booking fees.

Baycorp Advantage rose 5c to 440 on turnover worth $4.5 million.

Among other movements market leader Carter Holt Harvey was up 3c at 200, retailer Briscoe Group was 3c higher at 223 and Pacific Retail Group, still flying high as independent directors prepared a report on Logan Corp's takeover bid, was up 10c at 310.

Sanford was up 6c at 547, Ports of Auckland rose 3c to 680, Tranz Rail eased 5c to 345, and The Warehouse was a cent higher at 736.

There were 31 rises and 32 falls among the 105 stocks traded so far.

On Wall Street, the markets got a boost from a better than expected service sector report but investors stuck for safety to blue-chips.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 108.96 points, or 1.12 per cent, at 9,796.80, according to the latest available numbers. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 9.21 points, or 0.88 per cent, at 1,049.90. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 17.14 points, or 1.09 per cent, at 1,595.26.

- NZPA