NZ stocks: Shares ease as leaders give up early gains

12.00 pm

The New Zealand sharemarket eased slightly by late morning as several leading stocks failed to hold on to early gains.

The benchmark NZSE-40 was down 1.36 points at 2050.78 by just after 11am, on moderate turnover worth $30 million.

Telecom, the largest stock on the index by market capitalisation, was steady at 508, after earlier trading up to 511, close to a 3-1/2 month high.

"There has actually been some good on-market turnover already in Telecom, so that is a good sign," ABN Amro institutional dealer Nigel Scott said.

Almost 2 million Telecom shares, worth $9.33 million changed hands by mid morning.

Stocks pushing the index down in late morning trade included Fisher & Paykel's star healthcare unit, which was down 4c at 1686 after earlier trading up 20c at 1710 while its sister stock Fisher & Paykel Appliances edged down 35c to 1000.

Auckland Airport slipped 3c to 382, Brierley was down a cent at 30c, Ports of Auckland shed 3c to 542, Tranz Rail lost 10c to 410 and The Warehouse was down 5c at 655.

On the upside, discount homeware and sporting goods retailer Briscoe Group was up 2c at 144 on its second day of trading on the local bourse.

That compares with its initial public offer (IPO) price of $1.

Forest products company Carter Holt Harvey was up a cent at 170, Air New Zealand B shares added a cent to 34c, Lion Nathan was up 4c at 560, Mainfreight was up 2c at 144, Sky TV added 2c to 372 and Sky City was 5c higher at 630.

In all, falls outnumbered rises by 38 to 30 among the 104 stocks traded so far.

In the United States on Friday stocks eked out gains after a late afternoon bounce, capping a week of losses amid increasing investor unease about the slipping US economy and unrelenting bad news on corporate profits.

After spending much of the session hovering near unchanged levels from Thursday's close, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average climbed 44.70 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 9811.15. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 3.69 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 1123.07. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 6.66 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 1953.17.

- NZPA