NZ stocks: Shares open slightly firmer

10.40am


The New Zealand sharemarket opened slightly firmer today.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index opened 2.5 points or 0.1 per cent higher at 2389.728. The NZSX-40 capital index was 2.24 points higher at 2219.937.

There were 21 rises and 17 falls among the 78 stocks traded in the first 10 minutes after opening. Turnover of 83.1 million shares worth $91.6 million was boosted by stakeholder changes at Colonial First State Property Trust.

Colonial First's units were up 2c to 98, with nearly 73 million units changing hands.

Australian-based Macquarie Goodman Management is buying 20 per cent of Colonial First from ASB Group's insurance branch, Sovereign Assurance, which is exiting its 53 per cent stake.

Colonial First announced today that the sale to institutions of 30 per cent of the trust's units held by Sovereign was completed last night at 94c a unit.

Telecom edged up 1c to 509 on turnover of more than 3 million shares, while nearly 2.7 million Air New Zealand shares changed hands at the unchanged price of 47c.

Other leaders to gain were The Warehouse, 2c to 512, and Fisher & Paykel Appliances, 2c to 402.

While Port of Tauranga jumped 14c to 420, Port of Auckland shed 25c to 780.

On Wall Street stocks closed barely changed, after the US dollar sank to another record low against the euro and rekindled fears that currency weakness would curb foreign investment in the United States.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 15 points, or 0.15 per cent, at 10,144.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed up 1.34 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 1076.48. The technology-laced Nasdaq composite index ended down 3.26 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 1921.03.

- NZPA