NZ stocks: Shares barely gain despite Nasdaq leap

New Zealand shares were only just in the positive this morning despite a sizzling night on Wall St that saw the tech-laced Nasdaq index post its biggest gain in a year.

Wall St stocks soared after Cisco Sytems Inc, the world's largest maker of gear that directs internet traffic, more than tripled last year's soft earnings for the first quarter and said information technology spending is improving.

That sparked a 122.47 point, or 7.78 per cent, rally in the Nasdaq composite index to 1696.29 -- its eighth largest percentage gain ever and its biggest percentage gain since April 2001. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average surged 305.28 points, or 3.10 per cent, to 10,141.83.

New Zealand's rally was barely perceptible with the benchmark NZSE-40 index up only 4.06 points to 2054.27 by midday on turnover worth $32 million.

Leading the move was Telecom which added 5c to 489 on turnover worth $15 million.

Rail operator Tranz Rail was down 15c to 345 after posting a much-reduced quarterly profit.

The company recorded a net after tax profit of $2.8 million for the three months ending March 31, down sharply on the $13.1 million figure reported in the same quarter a year earlier.

For the nine months to March 2002 Tranz Rail's profit was $46.1 million against $6.4 million in the nine months to March 2001.

Tranz Rail managing director Michael Beard said the latest quarter had been affected by restructuring costs.

In other moves, Briscoe Group added a cent to 211, Fletcher Building was up 1c at 270, Fisher and Paykel Appliances jumped 15c to 955, Guinness Peat Group rose a cent to 206, Nuplex was up 5c at 325, Ports of Auckland added 3c to 650, and Telstra added 8c to 570.

Rises outnumbered falls by 42 to 24 among the 109 stocks traded so far.

Baycorp Advantage fell another 3c to 450, adding to yesterday's 18c fall after Dun and Bradstreet Australia (D&B) announced the launch of a broad-based, full service credit bureau, rumours of which had squashed Baycorp's share price this year.

The new operation, which follows D&B's entry into the Australian and New Zealand consumer credit reference market, will offer a web-based credit card reference service, which D&B said could be easily accessed and implemented.

AMP was flat at 2010 after losing 70c yesterday on news depressed global equity markets pushed its first quarter cash flows into negative territory.

On the downside, Carter Holt Harvey slipped 2c to 185, while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was 6c off at 910, Auckland International Airport was down 3c at 455, Air New Zealand lost a cent to 52c and the Port of Tauranga lost 25c to 740.

- NZPA