NZ stocks: Shares begin Xmas wind-down

The New Zealand sharemarket started to relax today ahead of Christmas, but for the second day there was some action among small and mid-weight stocks.

"We've been through the September reporting season, we've been through the AGM season, and we're just running down to Christmas, so I think the market will be just trading on order flow" Alan Wills, a broker with Forsyth Barr Frater Williams, said.

By 5pm the NZSX-50 gross index edged down slightly by 1.66 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 2374.32, while the NZSX-40 capital index was in the positive, up 0.15 points at 2202.98. Turnover was a moderate $86 million.

With little corporate news to fire the market, there was limited movement in the leading stocks. Telecom was down 3c to 510 on $20.6 million turnover, Carter Holt Harvey was flat at 183, and Contact Energy was a cent higher at 533.

But smaller stocks began to flex their muscles.

"It's really a story of the mid-cap stocks today and they have little influence on the index," said Mr Wills.

Powerco traded to levels not seen since August last year after announcing gas contracts with three Tasmanian operations. It was up 6c to 191 today on moderate volume.

Software of Excellence continued its good recent run climbing 22c to 154. Yesterday the company added 17c on the back of news that it was a subcontractor to two companies involved in the British health sector's IT reforms.

Skellmax gained 5c to a new high of 130, and Freightways soared a to record price of 203, up 6c, on $1.6 million worth of shares.

Pay TV operator Sky TV was runner-up on the turnover table, closing 2c higher at 525 on $11.2 million worth of shares.

Wrightson shareholders continued to take advantage of the Rural Portfolio Investments offer, with the stock ending up a cent ahead of RPI's $1.45 price.

RPI, half owned by former Fonterra head Craig Norgate, has not disclosed how many shares it wants to buy but told the sharemarket today that it had increased its holding to 10.7 per cent.

RPI has previously but unsuccessfully sought a target toehold of 19.9 per cent. Its offer is at a premium to Wrightson's pre-offer price, which eased after the company warned of currency impacts on its profitline.

Air New Zealand was up a cent to 46, after announcing changes to its team to its management team, and Tourism Holdings Ltd gained 2c to 151.

Discount retailer The Warehouse was up 7c to 510 following better than expected retail sales figures.

Other movers included Fletcher Building down a cent to 394, AMP up 4c to 640, Promina down 3c to 385, GRD up 13c to 225, Pacific Retail Group down 8c to 232, Waste Management up 6c to 397 and Richmond down 55c to 250.

Falls outnumbered rises by 50 to 40 on 137 stocks traded.

There was little direction from overseas markets. Overall, New York's Dow Jones industrial average dipped 9.27 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 9914.15, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index eased 3.23 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 1056.95, and the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index sagged 12.13 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 1896.19.

In London, the FTSE 100 index closed 44.2 points or 1.01 per cent lower at 4335.4, resuming a losing streak which has seen it trail back from 15-month highs above 4400 since last week.

- NZPA