NZ stocks: Top-40 follows markets down

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket was in the red this morning with very little interest in the top-40 stocks.

ABN Amro Craigs retail equities adviser Nigel Scott said there was a lack of order flow following a burst of activity earlier in the week.

"The market's just been driven by the odd order from the buy side -- very mixed performance so far," Mr Scott said.

By mid-morning the benchmark NZSE-40 capital index was down 10.86 points, or 0.56 per cent, at 1928.50, on turnover of 6.92 million stocks valued at $18.87 million.

Topping turnover was Telecom's 1.3 million stocks worth $6.12 million.

Among the movers were Telecom, down 6c at 443, Sky City, down 14c at 840, The Warehouse, down 10c at 580, fellow retailer Briscoe Group, down 4c at 251, and Baycorp Advantage, down 3c at 200.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances was down 23c at 1007 while Healthcare lost 13c to 995, both on very light turnover, and Auckland Airport lost 6c to 527.

AMP was down 15c at 880 after falls overnight in the British FTSE-100 index. Air New Zealand rose 1c to 53, ANZ Bank was up 46c at 1801 on very light turnover, and Vertex rose 2c to 157 after a tussle between businessmen Selwyn Cushing and George Gould for shares in the plastics manufacturer.

Fletcher Forests lost 2c to 112 despite announcing a return to net profit today, albeit just $4 million for the six months to December 31, against a $302 million loss a year ago.

Sanford was rewarded for its announcement yesterday it had started the year in better than expected form. Shares in the Auckland fishing company were up 30c at a three-month high of 510.

There were 48 falls and 18 rises on the 103 stocks traded.

In offshore markets, British shares crumbled on Wednesday as the sight of tanks guarding London's main airport, mounting fears about war in the Middle East and a grim report on UK economic growth sent investors running for cover.

In the United States, stocks also slumped pushing key indices to fresh four-month lows amid jitters over a possible US-led attack on Iraq and heightened security concerns in the United States.

The Dow average fell 84.94 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 7758.17; the S&P 500 slipped 10.52 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 818.68; and the Nasdaq Composite Index eased 16.52 points, or 1.28 per cent, to 1278.94.

- NZPA