NZ stocks: Sharemarket continues in holding pattern

12.15 pm

The sharemarket continued its pattern of flat trading on light volumes today.

The market has traded a very narrow range this week. Brokers said that relatively it has been a good performance given that major overseas markets had weakened considerably.

The NZSE-40 index was down 2.28 points to 2038.43 by shortly after 11.30am. Volume was a light $15.6 million with just under half of that in Telecom.

The market heavyweight was down 3c to 510 with some analysts quite upbeat about its annual result due on Tuesday.

Analysts forecast Telecom will report a net tax paid profit around $828 million, including a net $221 million dividend from its share of the Southern Cross Cable network.

Baycorp succumbed to a little more profit taking, losing 9c to 1311, having scaled to 1390 earlier in the week on euphoria about its merger with Data Advantage.

AMP, which lost 8.3 per cent last week about concerns over the investment environment, lost another 9c today to 2291.

Westfield Trust, which reported a strong result this week, rose 9c to 419.

Nufarm, soon to delist in New Zealand, fell 5c to 345.

Other movers included Air NZ As, down 2c to 111, Blis, up 2c to 97, Fletcher Building, up 3c to 269, Michael Hill, up 10c to 440, Richina, fell 3c to 77, Williams & Kettle fell 9c to 355 and The Warehouse rose 3c to 558.

There were 30 rises and 35 falls among the 112 stocks traded.

The US market ended a choppy session nearly unchanged as persistent fears about sluggish US growth and a mixed batch of retail sales dampened investors' appetite for stocks.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 3.04 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 1963.32, posting its fifth straight session of losses and ending just four points shy of a four-month closing low.

The Dow Jones industrial average ticked up 5.06 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 10,298.56.

Britain's FTSE 100 index closed deep in the red as telecom and tech shares fell amid renewed gloom about the economic outlook, while another slide on Wall Street further undermined sentiment.

- NZPA