NZ stocks: Sharemarket benchmark index ekes out small gain

6.04pm

After trudging into negative territory for much of the day, the benchmark sharemarket index staged a late rally to end the day in the black.

After losing ground for the past couple of days, the NZSX-50 index eked out a 3.24 point gain to 2857.66 today, while the NZSX-All capital index fell 0.02 of a point to 949.96.

Total market turnover was worth $95.8 million. All up there were 157 stocks traded today, with 48 falls and 54 rises.

With little corporate news of note out today, attention was focused on the groundbreaking insider trading case brought by the Securities Commission against former executives of Tranz Rail, which was this year renamed Toll NZ.

Shares in Toll NZ rose 5c to 275, but Matt Willis of ABN Amro Craigs said the insider trading case was unlikely to have had any impact on Toll shares.

"I don't think there's any implication for them (Toll shares) quite frankly. The implication really is for the market and all participants -- both listed entities and investors -- in that this has the potential to be a very, very significant precedent in terms of insider trading," Mr Willis said.

Telecom, which usually provides direction for the market, fell 3c to 597 today, on turnover worth $19.1 million.

Mr Willis said a downturn in international equity markets usually impacted offshore interest in Telecom.

"Telecom... barring any stock-specific moves, just trades on momentum really and that momentum does to a large extent come from offshore," Mr Willis said.

In the US, Wall Street stocks fell overnight as oil prices climbed, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 74.85 points to 10,002.33.

Decent gains by fellow top stocks Auckland International Airport and Contact Energy helped offset Telecom's downward drag on the market.

Auckland International Airport gained 13c to 740, while Contact was up 12c to 605.

Powerco continued to attract interest, with 4.6 million trades worth $9.8 million. The stock rose 1c to 213, 2c shy of the $2.15 per share takeover offer by Australia's Prime Infrastructure.

Fellow takeover target NGC Holdings rose 1c to 304, to outstrip the $3/share offer from Vector. NGC yesterday announced a special 9cps dividend to use available tax credits before Australian Gas Light sells its 66 per cent stake to Vector.

Statistics New Zealand said seasonally adjusted retail sales were unchanged in August, outperforming economists' forecasts of a 0.4 per cent fall. But retail stocks put in a mixed performance today. The Warehouse fell 6c to 409, Briscoe was up 1c at 141, Pumpkin Patch was unchanged at 217, Hallenstein Glasson up 4c at 370 and Michael Hill Jeweller up 1c to 726.

Other stocks on the move today included: Carter Holt Harvey down 1c at 234, Fletcher Building down 4c at 576, NZX down 5c at 765 and air NZ down 1c at 161.

- NZPA