NZ stocks: Top stocks lead sharemarket down

12.20pm

A slide by leading stocks pulled the sharemarket down in early trading today.

By 11.35am the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index fell 7.45 points to 2684.76, while the NZSX-All capital index was down 1.49 points to 902.05.

Market leader Telecom was down 2c at 583. The bellwether stock dominated trading, with turnover worth $26.8 million out of total market turnover worth $44.8 million.

Of the 118 stocks traded by 11.35am there were 30 rises and 37 falls.

Murray Rutherford of Goldman Sachs JB Were said despite today's softening the local market was holding up well, on the back of a "shake out" in Wall St last night.

"It's really just a couple of cents off across the leaders rather than anything major. If anything the New Zealand market is showing its resilience today rather than its sensitivity to global markets," Mr Rutherford said.

There was little corporate news of note released this morning.

Carter Holt Harvey was down 2c at 206. The company today sent shareholders notice of a July 22 special meeting seeking approval for its $480 million capital return plan.

The money will be paid out on a pro rata basis by way of cancellation of one quarter of the shares held by each shareholder, resulting in a payment of 27.5 cents per share.

Powerco was up 3c at 211, after 38.2 per cent owner, the New Plymouth District Council said last night it had approved a shortlist of potential buyers for its stake. No further details were provided.

Taranaki Electricity Trust and Powerco WanganuiTrust are also considering selling their holdings in Powerco, which would bring the stake up for sale to more than 53 per cent.

It was a mixed bag for other energy stocks this morning, with TrustPower unchanged at 470, Genesis up 3c at 73, and Contact Energy down 2c at 585.

Toll Holdings was unchanged at 165, after rising 5c yesterday after the company reached a deal with the Government to put the rail network back in public ownership for $1.

Other stocks on the move included Michael Hill Jeweller down 1c at 594, Telstra up 3c at 551, Wrightson up 1c at 141, Kirkcaldie and Stains down 10 at 235, Promina up 7c at 447, Sky City Entertainment down 5c at 472 and Sky Network TV down 6 at 512.

Stocks weakened in the US yesterday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 101.32 points at 10,334.16, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 11.86 points at 1,128.98 and the Nasdaq Composite Index sliding 32.24 points to 2,015.55.

- NZPA