NZ stocks: Shares smoulder but no spark from US rise

12.00 pm

Another positive day on Wall Street had brokers hoping for a flow-through on the New Zealand sharemarket this morning.

US markets jumped on Friday and surged again today as expectations for an economic rebound outweighed concerns over shady accounting practices.

But Friday's rebound failed to spark the New Zealand market yesterday and today it was yet to catch fire, up 6.55 points to 2094.86 on the NZSE-40 capital index just after 11am. Turnover was a quiet $21 million.

"It's a quiet start with no firm directions as yet, but I'd like to think on the day that we can see a positive reflection of the offshore markets," broker Andrew Kelleher of ASB Securities said.

Telecom helped the market up, rising 9c to 533 on turnover of $4.3 million and on a positive session in the US overnight.

Another US-listed company, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which yesterday enjoyed a rise of 75c, was up 5c to 1435 this morning at 1430. Its appliance unit cousin was up 10c to 1020 as it announced it had sold its stake in Auckland-based retail chain Hill & Stewart Appliances.

Port of Tauranga was up 5c to 705 after news yesterday that the Commerce Commission had cleared the company to acquire Owen Services BOP.

Falls included Auckland Airport, down 1c to 389; Baycorp Advantage, down 11c to 673; Contact, down 3c to 372; and power companies United Network and Trustpower were down 4c to 805 and 5c to 335 respectively.

The Warehouse was up 1c to 664, Sky City was up 4c to 588 on solid turnover, and Wakefield Hospital up 6c to 149. Fletcher Building was steady at 309 and Sky TV was up 1c to 428 ahead of their half year results tomorrow.

There were 36 rises and 25 falls on 108 stocks traded so far.

On Wall Streets stocks gathered momentum throughout the session. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average racked up a 140.54-point gain, up 1.44 per cent at 9,884.78. The technology-packed Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 27.78 points, or 1.53 per cent, at 1,846.66. The broad

Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 15.72 points, or 1.43 per cent, to 1,111.94.

- NZPA