NZ stocks: Shares finish flat as Telecom fails to inspire investors

6.00pm



In a mixed but active session on the New Zealand sharemarket, top stock Telecom failed to find investor support, in spite of today being the record date for its dividend .

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index made a flat finish to the week, ticking up 1.56 points to 2589.16, while the NZSX all capital index ended 0.19 of a point lower at 877.06.

Amro Craigs Equities operator Matt Willis said yesterday's budget appeared to have had some effect on the market today and there had also been some placement activity.

"It feels like the market has gained a bit of momentum towards the end of the week," he said.

"It felt like we were very much in a holding pattern earlier in the week. Yesterday's budget, if anything, was probably stimulatory from a consumer spending point of view. The flipside of that is it may be inflationary as well."

Telecom had another switchback ride today, finishing 3c lower at 556 after hitting an intra-day high of 563 several times during the session.

Today is the record date for the stock's 7.5c interim dividend.

"It's a bit surprising that the shareprice hasn't been a little bit firmer this week on the back of that," Mr Willis said.

It would be interesting to see where Telecom found support ex-dividend next week, he added.

Other top stocks had mixed fortunes with Auckland International Airport up 6c to 672, Carter Holt Harvey down 3c to 196, Contact Energy up a cent to 564, Fletcher Building up 2c to 442, Independent Newspapers Ltd up 2c to 487, Sky TV up 4c to 534.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 8c to 458. Mr Willis said the stock got traded down on light volume yesterday and its gain today was likely a bounce from that.

Sky City continued its run of incremental gains this week, adding 3c to 475. Yesterday the company got Overseas Investment Commission approval to bid for the 26 per cent of cinema operator Sky City Leisure it does not already own.

NGC Holdings was up 8c to 259, and Promina was up 25c or nearly 6 per cent to 445.

Nuplex shares were 8c lower at 507 after the company announced it was set to boost its production base in southern China, through the acquisition of the privately-owned resin manufacturer Foshan Veeya Chemical Company.

Further down the board, telecommunications company Cabletalk Group was up 8c to 30 after today posting an improved net profit after tax of $1.9 million for the March year.

Mr Willis said the day had been active on the placement front with a chunk of retirement village operator Metlifecare stock equal to 9.4 per cent of shares on offer changing hands. It finished 5c higher at 225.

Briscoe Group was unchanged at 132 after flagging a dip in its July half profit and an intention to expand at its annual meeting today.

Other stocks on the move included: Air NZ down a cent to 39, BayCorp Advantage up 6c to 306, Cavalier Corp down 2c to 477, Dorchester Pacific Group down 6c to 294, Michael Hill down 5c to 575, Mooring Systems down 4c to 360, NZX down 15c to 885, Ports of Auckland up 10c to 735, Repco up 5c to 285, Sanford down 5c to 485, Telstra down 4c to 531, Tower down 2c to 159, The Warehouse down a cent to 430 and Waste Management up 8c to 461.

Total turnover was worth $141.20 million and there were 54 rises and 45 falls among the 144 stocks traded.

- NZPA