NZ stocks: Sharemarket steady on Sept 11 anniversary

12.00pm

The sharemarket was steady and calm this morning on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The NZSE-40 capital index, which yesterday shrugged off any jitters to rise 17.88 points, was in the positive for the first couple of hours but by 11.30am was down 0.93 points to 2035.31.

Turnover was very light with just 8 million shares traded, worth just $15.5 million.

The calm tone was set on Wall Street where stocks edged up in light trading in a truncated session in what some called a patriotic rally.

The US market drifted toward its fourth straight day of gains as investors picked up battered shares. This was in contrast with the tumble the markets took following the attacks that killed nearly 3000 people and toppled the World Trade Centre's twin towers in New York.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average rose 39.95 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 8642.56, having risen nearly 1 per cent earlier, which the tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index gained 10.97 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 1331.06.

Salomon Smith Barney broker Craig Robins said the successful negotiation of the anniversary was good news.

"If anything we could get a post-September 11 relief rally," he said.

He said that with a largely positive result season out of the way, there were good technical indications of a rally.

Turnover on the local market was dominated by the trade of a parcel of over one million Auckland Airport shares. The stock was steady on 422.

Market leader Telecom was largely responsible for the market losing its early positive tone. It reversed a 2c early gain to be down 2c to 495.

Vertex, the troubled plastics manufacturer which yesterday fronted up to worried sharebrokers at a "please explain" meeting in Auckland, recovered 7c to 127 today.

The company share price has plunged 34 per cent since it issued a profit warning last Tuesday and the Securities Commission announced it was investigating the company's June public offering.

Jewellery retailer Michael Hill rose 8c to a new record of 560. The stock has risen from 445 a year ago as investors have bought into a very solid story, Mr Robins said.

Tranz Rail was down 1c to 161 ahead of its result expected after the market closes. The stock has had a nightmare year and is expected to post a $26 million loss before tax and interest rate expenses. The bottom is expected to be considerably worse as it moves ferry leases back on balance sheet and takes other one-off hits. In addition, the company is expected to require new funding and that issue will loom large for the share price ahead.

Elsewhere, other stocks to rise included: Tower, 7c to 383; Fisher and Paykel Appliances, 11c to 1022; Independent Newspapers, 2c to 317; Baycorp Advantage, 9c to 404; and The Warehouse, 1c to 730.

Falling stocks included AMP, 11c to 1560, Lion Nathan 6c to 600, and Westpac NZ, 10c to 1705.

There were 36 rises and 20 falls among the 105 stocks traded.

- NZPA