NZ stocks: Telecom boosts shares, Sky City result firms

12.00pm

Telecom rebounded from yesterday's three-month low to boost the share market half a per cent in early trading today.

Telecom, which fell 5c to 489 yesterday, regained 3c today to 493.

Top-10 stock, Sky City Entertainment gained 1c to 914 after posting a an 88 per cent rise in net profit to $107 million that was a couple of million dollars better than the most optimistic of analysts' forecasts. Sky earlier traded as high as 926. The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 8.48 points at 2180.45 at 11.40am while the NZSX-40 capital index was up 8.09 points at 2108.79.

Trade in Telecom made up nearly half of the market's $26.4 million turnover.

Number 2 stock, Carter Holt Harvey rose 3c to 176.

Others in the positive included AMP, 8c to 543, Lion Nathan, 6c to 604, Baycorp Advantage, 3c to 203, Promina, 3c to 295, Fletcher Building, 2c to 415, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, 10c to 1230, and Westpac NZ, 9c to 1699.

Axa was up 5c to 300 after its result.

Stocks to fall included Auckland Airport, 2c to 615, Mainfreight, 2c to 130, and Evergreen Forests 1c to 44c after reporting a $36 million loss yesterday.

There were 33 rises and 19 falls among the 104 stocks traded.

US stocks ended barely changed in thin trading as investors took a break in the absence of any major corporate or economic news after last week's rally.

Trading activity is expected to be quiet all week, with many market players taking vacation in the last week of August.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average finished down 31.23 points at 9,317.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 1.01 points to 1,764.31, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index inched up just 0.65 points to 993.71.

- NZPA