NZ stocks: Shares move lower after positive start

12.30pm

After initially ticking higher on opening, the sharemarket drifted lower by late morning as investors took profits on gains by a number of stocks which had yesterday pushed the NZSX-50 index to fresh high.

By 11.35am the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was down 5.01 points to 2662.38, while the NZSX all capital index was down 1.55 to 892.11.

Total turnover by 11.30am was $44.84 million and there were 31 rises and 19 falls among the 110 stocks traded.

ASB Securities broker Stephen Wright said: "We started off a bit better and then just weakened off."

This movement was in line with top stock Telecom's progress over the early session.

The stock notched up a small gain early on, building on yesterday's 6c rise to a two month high, but was a cent lower at 579 by 11.30am

Mr Wright said there was "nothing dramatic" happening among top 50 stocks and volume was reasonable.

Contact Energy was down 9c to 575 on reports the process for the sale of Edison Mission's half stake in the company had been delayed for two weeks.

Fletcher Building was down 4c to 456, a move Mr Wright attributed to profit taking after its 10c gain yesterday.

Wrightson was down 2c at 148, Mr Wright said it was expected to be weaker following the close of Rural Portfolio's offer for control of the rural services icon. The high number of acceptances of RPI's offer meant the Craig Norgate led company would scale back its acceptances by 30 per cent, disappointing those who had bought the stock to take advantage of the offer.

"There will be a few punters out there who were hoping for a much bigger acceptance rate who are now selling."

Other stocks to move by 11.30am included: BayCorp Advantage up 3c to 324, Dorchester Pacific Group up 5c to 275, Mooring Systems up 10c to 360, NZX up 5c to 845, Ports of Auckland down 10c to 715, Pumpkin Patch up 2c to 141, Sky City down 2c to 468, Sky TV up 7c to 512, Teamtalk up 3c to 240, Telstra up 2c to 555, and Vertex down 3c to 160.

- NZPA