NZ stocks: Telecom slide sends market lower

12:00 pm

A sharp slide in market leader Telecom sent the sharemarket lower today.

Telecom initially tumbled 17c following reports that a large contract it holds to provide phone services with Commonwealth Bank of Australia was experiencing some difficulties.

Telecom has denied that it was struggling to meet performance obligations, and by 11 am, it had clawed back some ground, trading 12c down at 538.

There were 2.2 million Telecom shares worth $12.3 million, dominating the overall turnover of $27.7 million.

The NZSE-40 capital index was off 12.34 points to 2115.28.

The Warehouse fell another 3c to 676, a continuation of its fall after announcing healthy sales in the Christmas quarter. Brokers said even so, there had been high expectations built into the results and the stock was adjusting accordingly.

BIL International, formerly Brierleys, was up 2c to 42 after reducing its stake in the Singaporean beverage company Fraser & Neave. It sold 1.35 million shares at $S8.4798 ($NZ11.27) per share, and now holds an 11 per cent stake in F&N.

Teo Hiang Boon, an analyst at GK Goh Research, said the sale "could signal that BIL is finding it difficult to make inroads into getting board representation at F&N, and this may cause BIL to pare down its stake since launching a full takeover is difficult."

Genesis Research and Development fell 5c to 310 after announcing a biotechnology agreement for closer collaboration with the Seattle-based Immunex Corporation.

Other movers included BayAdvantage down 30c to 700, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare continued its slide downwards by 20c to 1379, and F&P Appliances was down 15c to 965.

Briscoe Group was up 2c to 173, and Contact Energy was steady at 376.

There have been 25 rises and 38 falls on 111 stocks traded so far.

- NZPA