NZ stocks: Tower and Tranz Rail watched carefully by investors

12.30pm

Trading on the sharemarket today opened quietly with Tranz Rail and Tower being carefully watched by investors, a broker says.

At 11.30am the benchmark NZSX 50 gross index gained 2.04 points to 2182.42, while the NZSX 40 capital index was up 1.24 points to 2128.26.

Forsyth Barr broker David Price said the market was flat against quite weak markets offshore.

"We've seen continual strength in The Warehouse. If you look at the retail sector today Briscoes is going okay and The Warehouse is having a good day," Mr Price said.

"The Warehouse is playing a bit of catch up with the market in general."

At 11.30am The Warehouse was up 10c at 524, a seven-week high. Briscoes was up 2c to 202, a two week high.

So far today $43.3 million of stocks traded on volume of 14.4 million. Among the 113 stocks traded were 34 rises and 34 falls.

Market leader Telecom was up 1c to 522, having traded $17.8 million on volume of 3.4 million.

"Really companies beginning with 'T' probably hold people's interest, being Tranz Rail and Tower," Mr Price said.

Tranz Rail shares were down 1c to 90, and Tower's were unchanged at 154.

Tranz Rail shareholders have yet to decide which of the two offers they have recieved to buy the cash-strapped rail operator they will accept.

The Government and Australian company Toll Holdings have put in separate multi-million dollar proposals to buy Tranz Rail, each relying on shareholder acceptance for success.

Institutional shareholders are attempting to establish an alternative capital raising to that proposed by Tower in conjunction with Guinness Peat Group, a 10 per cent owner.

Among the stocks to rise today were: Auckland International Airport up 2c to 595, Fletcher Challenge Forests up 3c to 116, Fletcher Building up 5c to 373, New Zealand Refining up 4c to 1670, Ryman up 2c to 170, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 5c to 1155.

On the downside were: AMP 3c to 603, ANZ 30c to 2180, Carter Holt Harvey 1c to 169, Contact Energy 2c to 488, SkyCity 5c to 931, Sanford 1c to 512, and Westpac 4c to 1795.

- NZPA