NZ stocks: Sharemarket down after fall in US stocks

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket was in negative mode today after markets fell in the United States overnight.

By mid-morning the NZSE-40 capital index was down 18.68 points, or 0.88 per cent, at 2114.93, on turnover of 10.01 million stocks valued at $21.63 million.

Topping that was Telecom's $8.38 million worth of trade, followed by National Australia Bank's $3.14 million.

Amid nagging doubts about a rebound in corporate earnings in the US, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 128.14 points, or 1.33 per cent, to 9517.26, its lowest close since November. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 17.14 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 1013.60, and the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 33.51 points, or 2.19 per cent, to 1497.18.

Andrew Kelleher of ASB Securities said the weak performances offshore were on the back of tension in the Middle East and between Pakistan and India, as well as more general uncertainty about the US economic recovery.

"It all basically added up to indices over there that are threatening the lows post-September 11," Mr Kelleher said.

"What that means is that we're in the interesting situation that the (US) Fed eased because they needed to get the economy kick-started, but it's just not happening.

"Domestically, the market's just subdued, there's low turnover. We're not seeing the rises in business confidence that supposedly are coming through in independent surveys, translated into positive action in the sharemarket," he said.

"We haven't fallen back to the same extent as markets offshore but we're still talking about fairly lacklustre performances. We're not going anywhere, in the face of declining world markets (although) relatively we've probably done OK."

Telecom was down 8c at 521 after a volatile sector performance overnight, particularly for Nokia. However, Telecom was performing relatively well compared with other telcos, Mr Kelleher said.

"It's done alright relatively, the pullback today's not too much of a worry."

Other leaders fell back today with The Warehouse down 10c at 755, Baycorp Advantage down 20c at 380, Air New Zealand shed 1c to 64, Auckland International Airport lost 5c to 440, Carter Holt Harvey was down 4c at 199.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare lost 5c to 885, Appliances was down 9c at 885, pay TV company Sky TV lost 5c to 445 and majority owner Independent Newspapers Ltd was down 5c at 380. Australian telco Telstra was down 5c at 520.

Fletcher Building dropped 3c to 278 despite upgrading its June year earnings forecast yesterday to beat analyst expectations.

"A bit disappointing following some positive news yesterday, it still can't climb to the 280/90 level with any degree of conviction. They're doing everything right, there just seem to be sellers up there," Mr Kelleher said.

The few stocks to gain did so on minimal volume -- Infratil was up 1c at 109, UnitedNetworks gained 5c to 771, Software of Excellence rose 5c to 245 and courier-freight firm Mainfreight, which said today its March year net profit rose 171 per cent to $6.6 million, gained 6c to 134.

There were 41 falls and 13 rises on the 92 stocks traded.

- NZPA