NZ stocks: Telecom trading reflects net move

The New Zealand sharemarket had an "extremely lacklustre" day yesterday, with turnover of only $42 million.

The key NZSE-40 capital index ended up 14.99 points, or 0.73 per cent, at 2067.55 while the small companies' NZSE-SCI capital index lost 10.35 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 5646.75.

Telecom's 1.82 million stocks, valued at $9.29 million, topped total turnover of 18.86 million, valued at $42.55 million.

Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said the NZ market was one of the few in the Asia Pacific region to remain in positive territory.

"It's been very quiet, but at least reasonably firm."



Telecom received a boost from news of the internet joint venture involving its Australian subsidiary AAPT, media giant America Online (AOL) and the Seven Network.

The joint-venture company, AOL7, will operate the AOL service in Australia and is expected to be profitable in the medium term, between four and six years.

Mr Wright said it was time Telecom got on to the front foot in Australia.



"Other than that it was an exceptionally lacklustre day."

Baycorp rose 15c to $12 after announcing it had increased its investments in Singaporean and Malaysian credit services companies by $14.6 million.

Once Baycorp completes its planned merger with Australia's Data Advantage, the new company, Baycorp Advantage, intends to consolidate both companies' activities in Asia and expand through Transunionadvantage.

F&P Healthcare was up 20c at $16.65, the appliance division rose 15c at $9.75, Air NZ A and B shares were unchanged at 34c, and Auckland International Airport ended up 5c at $3.95.

Restaurant Brands gained 1c to $1.89 after reporting an 11.8 increase in fourth-quarter sales to $62.6 million.

The franchise operator also said it had raised $54 million - $8 million more than expected - from the sale and leaseback of 51 of its KFC sites.

Transtasman brewer Lion Nathan, down 5c at $5.45, said yesterday that it was on track to record double-digit earnings growth for the current year.

Lion Nathan chief executive officer Gordon Cairns said trading results for the first two months of the this financial year showed that the brewer - having increased earnings 14 per cent in the last fiscal year - was on track to deliver double-digit after-tax earnings growth.

Carter Holt Harvey rose 1c to $1.76, Contact Energy was up 4c at $4.04, Sky Television was up 9c at $3.75 and Fletcher Forests was up 1c at 25c. TrustPower gained 3c to $3.43.

On the down side were Ports of Auckland, down 8c at $5.42, Telstra, down 13c at $6.67, Independent Newspapers, down 5c at $3.55, casino company Sky City, down 11c at $6.25, and The Warehouse, down 3c at $6.52.

- NZPA