NZ stocks: Shares trade quietly as Wall St snoozes

Brokers expected today's trading to be fairly flat as the US market snoozed and a number of stocks paid out dividends.

By late morning the NZSE-40 still down 13.87 points to 2045.82 and volumes were a light-ish 9 million, despite the sharemarket starting half an hour earlier from today.

"The market's weaker, and quite a number of stocks are going ex-dividend today which has eaten up most of that (NZSE-40) fall ," Peter Stokes of JB Were said.

Case in point was market leader Telecom, still suffering from last Thursday's major fall on Wall Street where it is listed.

Telecom was down 7c at 498, dipping below the $5 mark for the first time since July 17. However, brokers said this was mainly due to a 5c quarterly dividend.

High-flyer Sky City also opened down 14c at 1160 but this was on light volumes this morning, Mr Stokes said.

Air New Zealand B shares also eased 5c to 110, as uncertainly continued over the Government's decision to defer a decision on the composition of cash-strapped Air NZ's ownership, and whether Singapore Airlines can lift its quarter stake in the company. Air NZ A shares were down 3c to 92.

There was little to stimulate the market this morning especially with today being Labour Day holiday in the United States.

Events that might trigger some activity this week include results from Independent News, Sky TV and Air NZ, all on Thursday.

Stocks to move this morning included Baycorp, 5c down to 1375; INL down 1 at 355; Lion Nathan down 5c to 585; and Rubicon down 1 to 73.

Steel & Tube, which was down 8c to 200, was to go ex-dividend by 9c today and Frucor Beverages, which was down 3c to 170, was to pay out a 4c dividend.

There were 17 rises and 41 falls on 95 stocks traded.

- NZPA