NZ stocks: Telecom pulls benchmark sharemarket index down

12.00pm

Top stock Telecom tugged down the benchmark sharemarket index this morning, reflecting a downward turn in international equity markets on Friday night.

By 11.30am today the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index had fallen 5.80 points to 2704.01, while the NZSX-All capital index was down 2.24 points at 906.17.

Bellwether stock Telecom dropped 5c to 586, on volume worth $16.6 million.

Total market turnover by 11.30am today was worth $32 million.

Of the 108 stocks traded there were 28 rises and 29 falls.

The market continued to play wait-and-see with Contact Energy, which was up 1c at 596. The US-based Edison Mission Energy is expected to soon announce the sale of its 51 per cent stake in the energy company.

Carter Holt Harvey was down 1c at 216, ahead of the release of its half year results later this week.

In one of the few news announcements this morning, Steel & Tube Holdings upped its profit forecast for the year ended June, from a previously indicated $24 million to $27 million to $28 million. The stock rose 8c to 428.

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) was up 2c at 68, after this morning announcing drilling had commenced at the Pateke-1 well off Taranaki.

Other stocks on the move by 11.30am included: Tower up 1c at 177, The Warehouse up 1c at 407, Infratil up 3c at 305, Fletcher Building up 3c at 469, Toll NZ down 2c at 188, MetlifeCare down 5c at 225, and Auckland International Airport down 4c at 681.

The downturn in the New Zealand market this morning follows on from a weak session for US equities markets on Friday, when the Dow Jones industrial average fell 23.38 points to 10,139.78, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 5.30 points to 1101.39 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 29.56 points to 1883.15, its lowest close since May 17.

- NZPA