NZ stocks: Sharemarket flat ahead of Australian open

12.00pm
The sharemarket was essentially flat today, with one key index up and the other ceding a little ground.

By late morning the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 1.15 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 2313.21, while the top-40 capital index was down 0.02 points at 2209.73.

Turnover of 10.09 million was valued at $21.34 million, topped by Sky City's $3.6 million worth of shares.

Suzanne Kinnaird of Forsyth Barr said the market was basically unchanged in quiet trading, despite a negative close yesterday.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, whose September half-year profit of $25.24 million was 25.4 per cent down on the same time last year, eased 1c to 1214.

"Certainly the market's not getting overly concerned about it," she said.

Market leader Telecom was up 1c at 490, The Warehouse gained 2c to 570, Tower was up 3c 137, Guinness Peat Group gained 1c to 183, Lion Nathan rose 5c to 655, and Mainfreight was up 2c at 138.

Casino company Sky City was unchanged at 917, Air New Zealand was down 1c at 48, Tranz Rail shed 2c to 138, AMP lost 15c to 720 and Baycorp Advantage was down 2c at 291.

Of the companies to hold annual meetings today, Fletcher Building lost 1c to 411 on fewer than 10,000 shares, Independent Newspapers Ltd was down 1c at 490, and Tourism Holdings Ltd gained 1c to 166.

Among the smaller retailers, Briscoe Group lost 1c to 179, Hallenstein Glassons was down 1c at 306, Michael Hill rose 1c to 443, and Pacific Retail Group was up 2c at 240.

There were 30 rises and 29 falls on the 110 stocks traded.

On Wall St, the Dow Jones dropped 0.5 per cent at 9756, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 0.6 per cent at 1047, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.5 per cent to 1941.

- NZPA