NZ stocks: Sharemarket holds its breath on brink of war

12pm

The sharemarket held its breath today with the US just hours away from war with Iraq.

The market was marginally up at noon with the NZ50 gross index up 4.66 points at 1900.51 and the top 40 index up 2.01 points at 1883.88.

The rise here was muted compared to strong rises again in London - up for the fifth day running - and Wall Street, which had its sixth straight up day.

Global markets are taking comfort that there is a clearer endgame and are betting on a short, decisive war.

Here, the main mover among the leaders was Sky City Entertainment, which continued to fall today after a big dive yesterday on news that tough anti-smoking legislation was likely to be enacted.

The casino operator, one of the market darlings of the last three years, dropped 17 cents to $8.15 to add to yesterday's 44-cent fall.

MacQuarie Equities broker Rob Gwyther said that smoking bans in Victoria and New South Wales had had a significant impact on casinos there. He said there was an element of profit-taking from foreign investors in Sky who had had a great run with its share price and the currency gain.

There was heavy turnover in Sky with nearly $10 million traded.

Total market turnover was $45 million, with $17 million worth of Telecom traded. The market leader was up 3c at 424.

Contact Energy, likely to be a beneficiary of higher power prices, rose 5c to 455. Trust Power, however, fell 6c to 395.

GRD MacRaes, which said it may have found a big new underground gold mine west of Motueka, rose 10c to 115. GRD said the find, if proved, would take years to develop.

Insurers AMP and AXA continued to rally with the overseas markets. AMP rose 20c to 840 and AXA rose 5c to 235.

Westpac NZ continued its good run, rising 5c to 1480.

There were 35 falls and 23 rises among the 102 stocks traded.

- NZPA