NZ stocks: Sharemarket slips in early trading

12.00pm

The sharemarket faltered in early trading this morning, with the benchmark index easing on moderate volumes.

By 10.10am today the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was down 1.52 points to 2756.2, while the NZSX-All capital index rose 0.24 points to 930.09.

Bellwether stock Telecom was unchanged in early trading ,at 597, but still dominated the market with turnover worth $9.7 million out of a market total of $13.4 million.

Falls outnumbered rises 21 to 13 among the 85 stocks traded in the first 10 minutes of trading.

Steel & Tube Holdings was up 5c at 454, after posting a record net profit for the June year of $28.5 million. The company also announced a final dividend of 15 cents per share to be paid on September 10.

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) rose 6c to 75c on the back of promising news from its Pateke 2 well, off Taranaki.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances, which is due to announce its annual result this afternoon, fell 3c to 465.

Takeover target DB Breweries was untraded and unchanged on 946. It's Singapore-based parent, Asia Pacific Breweries, today posted a profit of $S19.5 million ($17.41 million) for the quarter ended June 30. APB, which is controlled by Dutch brewing giant Heinken, is in the middle of a $9.50 per share takeover bid for DB and so far has gained just over 88 per cent of the New Zealand brewer.

Toll NZ fell 2c to 222, after booking a 9c gain on Friday.

Other stocks on the move by 10.10am included: Air New Zealand up 1c at 40c, Mooring Systems up 15c at 360, Waste Management down 4c at 491, Wrightson up 1c at 155 and Auckland International Airport down 3c at 710.

In the US on Friday the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 10.76 points at 9825.35, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.57 points at 1064.80 while Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.73 points at 1757.22.

- NZPA