NZ stocks: Shares fall after software glitch disrupts session

Today's session on the New Zealand sharemarket was disrupted by a late morning software glitch which halted trading for about five hours.

After continuing the week's positive trend this morning, trading halted at 11.30am due to what the New Zealand Exchange said in an urgent advisory was "an issue with the RMLT (computer) system which has compromised market integrity".

The market dipped when trading resumed in a hectic half hour session at 4.30pm.

At the 5pm close the NZSX-50 gross index was down just under 21 points or 0.94 per cent to 2196.65, while the NZSX-40 capital index finished 17.6 points or 0.8 per cent lower at 2121.05. Turnover was $60 million.

A BN Amro Craigs Equities retail adviser Bryon Burke said the market subsided on falls in leading stocks Telecom, Fletcher Building and Sky City in an "active to hectic" half hour before the 5pm close.

However, Mr Burke said with this outage, as in others seen in the past, it was important not to read too much into the price movements seen once the market had reopened.

"Often it's just pure liquidity as brokers are trying to get their trades done before the market closes. It's a pretty small window of opportunity when you've got a day's worth of orders built up."

It was difficult to gauge the tone of the market in the situation he said.

Mr Burke said the bulk of this afternoon's fall was due to Telecom which lost 12c to finish at 504.

"The reason for that -- I don't know," he said, adding it may have been a "a liquidity thing".

The other key stock to fall was Fletcher Building. "That's obviously more in relation to their placement," he said.

The company said today it had placed 25 million shares at $4.10, the proceeds of which will help pay for its purchase of Tasman Building Products Pty for A$230 million ($260.5 million) announced yesterday. By the close Fletcher Building was down 14c to 413.

Another leading stock to fall was Sky City which lost 8c to finish at 912.

Stocks to rise today included: Briscoe Group up 2c to 175, Hellaby Holdings up 2c to 455, Hallenstein Glassons up 2c to 297, Infratil up 2c to 292, Property Industries up 2c to 93, Promina Group up 2c to 280, Ports of Auckland up 5c to 790, Tranz Rail up a cent to 101, Waste Management up 4c to 383, and Wrightsons up 2c to 132.

Stocks to fall today included: Auckland International Airport down 2c to 632, Air NZ down a cent to 48, BayCorp Advantage down 6c to 198, Contact Energy down 2c to 485, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 10c to 1235, Lion Nathan down 10c to 600, Michael Hill down 15c to 425, Restaurant Brands down 3c to 129, Sky TV down a cent to 462, TelstraClear down 5c to 530, and the Warehouse down 5c to 510:

There were 49 falls and 33 rises on 130 stocks traded today.

- NZPA