NZ stocks: New index edges into the red

12.00pm

New Zealand's new sharemarket index began its second day of operation in positive territory but edged into the negative later this morning.

At 11am the new top 50 gross index was down 3.36 points to 1882.76 on slim volume worth $20.8 million.

New Zealand had just been through a season of generally solid earnings reports, but "a lack of enthusiasm" for equities had crept into our market, said Alan Wills, a trader for Forsyth Barr Frater Williams.

"Equity markets everywhere are very, very quiet -- a result probably of uncertainties regarding geo-political issues ... so it's really giving investors a good reason to do absolutely nothing."

The old NZSE-40 capital index slipped 1.45 points to 1877.75, after being pinned down yesterday by Telecom's near 10-year low.

Telecom fell 8c as the stock went ex-dividend by 5c per share, but this morning it had clawed back 3c to 416 on $3.6 million worth of shares.

Beleagured retailer the Warehouse, which rose 14c yesterday, was flat today to 570, and volatile Baycorp Advantage gained 1c to 116 as it recovered from a hammering over its first half loss announcement last week.

Vertex rose 2c to 148, despite a finding of breaching stock exchange rules for issuing a profit warning soon after listing last year.

The plastic container manufacturer issued a profit warning only 9-1/2 weeks after its $61 million float on July 1.

Other stocks to move included Auckland Airport, steady at 532. It shed 14c yesterday on concerns about global tourism despite a recent "fantastic result." THL was up 2c to 105 on solid turnover, Powerco up 2c to 125, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 10c to 960, Mooring Systems down 10c to 120, Fletcher Building down 2c at 359, and Carter Holt Harvey down 3c to 175.

Restaurant Brands fell a cent to 128 ahead of its quarterly sales report out today. The stock had had a "bad time" falling 18 per cent in the last month on domestic competition concerns, said Mr Wills.

There were 30 rises and 28 falls among the 105 stocks traded.

On Wall St, trading reflected a surprisingly soft reading on the US manufacturing sector, quashing early optimism over the arrest of a key al Qaeda member and Iraq's decision to destroy some of its banned missiles.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average ended down 53.22 points, or 0.67 per cent, at 7,837.86. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 lost 6.34 points, or 0.75 per cent, at 834.81 The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite dropped 17.23 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 1,320.29.

- NZPA