NZ stocks: Sharemarket opens sluggishly after long weekend

12.00pm

The sharemarket opened sluggishly after the long weekend, with stock prices dampened by a down session in the United States yesterday.

The barometer NZSE-40 capital index was down 1.16 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 2007.56 on thin turnover worth $14.19 million at about 11am.

Sam Macdonald of Direct Broking said the two trading sessions on Wall Street over the long weekend cancelled each other out, leaving the New Zealand market flat.

Trading was subdued with market leader Telecom falling 3c to 507 on trading worth $6.24 million.

Much attention would be on the Air New Zealand AGM today, after speculation that a deal with Qantas was imminent, Mr Macdonald said.

"That deal is going to be ultimately positive for Air New Zealand and certainly positive for the share price."

The stock was up 1c to 52.

Fletcher Building, which went ex-dividend, was down 11c to 306.

Baycorp Advantage was up 17c to 340 after a strong run in Australia yesterday.

Port of Tauranga climbed 30c to 840 on thin volume, while Mr Chips was up 10c to 110.

On the down side, Auckland Airport fell 4c to 536, Natural Gas Holdings was down 3c to 151, and Tower dropped 8c to 342.

There were 37 rises and 27 falls on 83 stocks traded so far.

On Wall Street, stocks slumped in late afternoon trading on Monday as investors locked in gains after a three-week rally on fears economic reports expected later this week will show that US growth is still weak.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 62 points, or 0.73 per cent, at 8,381, while the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index fell 9 points, or 0.72 per cent, at 1,321.

- NZPA