NZ stocks: Telecom leads light turnover in positive NZ session

The New Zealand sharemarket was in positive territory today, with Telecom leading relatively light turnover.

By late morning the NZSX-50 gross index was up 2.85 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 2324.71, while the top-40 index was up 0.17 per cent at 2223.24.

Market turnover totalled 16.3 million stocks valued at $20.8 million, topped by Telecom's $3.3 million worth of shares changing hands.

In New York the Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.15 per cent at 9850.16; the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.14 per cent at 1058.53; and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.11 per cent to 1971.45.

In London the blue-chip FTSE-100 share index rose 0.6 per cent to 4371.2.

Barry Johnson of Macquarie Equities said the market was putting in a solid performance today "without being spectacular".

In New Zealand, a few of the top stocks regained some of the ground lost yesterday.

Telecom was up 4c at 501, Air New Zealand lifted 1c to 49, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 2c at 1202, Tower rose 1c to 139, ANZ was up 10c at 1950, and AMP rose 11c to 701.

Casino company Sky City reversed an early fall to trade up 2c at 928, ahead of its share split tomorrow. Sky City shares will trade on Monday at half the price they close at on Friday.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances, whose shares undergo a four-for-one split tomorrow, was down 5c at 1480 after its first half profit yesterday which showed a 3 per cent improvement.

Discount retailer The Warehouse rose 6c to 589 after September quarter retail sales released yesterday rose 2 per cent, just beating forecasts of 1.8 per cent.

Among other retailers, Briscoe Group lost 3c to 181, Pacific Retail was down 2c at 236, and Michael Hill was unchanged at 440.

DB Breweries was up 10c at 780 on just 240 shares, Tranz Rail rose 1c to 139, Freightways gained 2c to 191, Port of Lyttelton was up 2c at 165, NZX rose 3c to 495, Skellmax was up 1c at 123, and Property for Industry gained 1c to 91.

Auckland Airport was down 4c at 685, Carter Holt Harvey lost 2c to 180, Contact Energy was down 1c at 506 ahead of its result tomorrow, Nuplex lost 3c to 412, and Tourism Holdings Ltd was down 11c at 142.

Of the 110 stocks traded, 36 rose and 28 fell.

- NZPA