NZ stocks: Shares mark time, Sky TV firms after TVNZ deal

12.00 pm

The sharemarket was moving slowly in late morning business, waiting for solid direction from Wall Street and for the independent report on Contact Energy.

US stocks, after initially rising across the board on fresh data showing the US economy shrank less than Wall Street feared in the third quarter, sagged in late trade.

The US economy suffered its worst contraction since the first quarter of 1991, the government said in its "advance" or early estimate of gross domestic product. GDP, the broadest measure of US economic health, shrank 0.4 per cent in the third quarter. The number still managed to beat economists' projected 1 per cent drop and helped spark an early rally.

Here, the NZSE-40 index was off 8.66 points at 1966.66 in late morning trading, on turnover of $28.7 million.

Sky TV was the stand-out performer, rising 15c to 360, following the announcement of a deal with Television New Zealand yesterday to carry the state broadcaster's channels. ABN Amro broker Mike Hare said the rise was on light volume and he doubted it would be sustained given Sky's strong recent run.

Steel & Tube was up 11c to 250 after announcing a special 10cps dividend to the annual meeting yesterday and giving shareholders an upbeat report on how the company was trading.

Contact Energy fell 3c to 412 on light volume as the market eagerly awaits the report of the independent assessors. There is speculation the report is due out later today or tomorrow.

Telecom was steady at 463 after yesterday's 18c gain.

Fletcher Building fell 1c to 269.

Air New Zealand shares were steady on 29c after the company yesterday reported it had lost another $439 million in the September quarter, including a $52 million operating loss.

Another standout performer was Fisher & Paykel which rose 17c to 1442 ahead of its half year result tomorrow.

Gainers included: The Warehouse, 2c to 652, AMP, 35c to 2200, Auckland Airport, 6c to 342, Sky City, up 4c to 1239, and Wrightson, 2c to 115.

In all, rises outnumbered falls 42-15 among the 97 stocks traded.

- NZPA