NZ stocks: Volume reasonable in shortened NZX session

Volume was moderate on the New Zealand sharemarket today, despite a five-hour delay due to technical problems.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 3.89 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 2271.49, while the top-40 index was also up 0.17 per cent, at 2172.10.

Topping turnover of 23.81 million stocks valued at $56.55 million, was Telecom's $20.8 million worth of turnover.

That was followed by Wrightson's 3.9 million stocks valued at $5.6 million, after a private company linked to the former Fonterra head Craig Norgate launched a bid to buy up to a fifth of the rural services company.

The $200 million stand in the market by Rural Portfolio Investments was at 145 cents per share, compared with the head shares which closed up 15c at 147.

Andrew Kelleher of ASB Securities said the short session meant little was able to be accomplished.

Trading on the exchange was disrupted by computer problems for the second time in little over a month this morning.

"In terms of a day it was pretty much a waste of time. We managed to get to ($56 million) worth of trading courtesy of some pretty spirited trading in Telecom," Mr Kelleher said.

"Wrightson's obviously the big news of the day, which had everybody talking.

"There's an interesting split developing here between those people accepting the offer and where the head share is trading on the market, because the head shares traded at 147.

"So there's people buying that share, while there's all those other people accepting the offer," he said.

A revised offer from Kiwi Forests Group put the spotlight on Fletcher Forest directors who are faced with an onerous break fee if they start negotiations over the unsolicited offer.

Kiwi Forests has made a new bid of $725 million in cash, less than its previous $750 million cash and scrip offer.

Fletcher Forest shares were up 3c at 126, compared with the Kiwi offer which valued the company at 149c per share.

Elsewhere on the market, Fisher & Paykel Appliances lost 18c to 1467, F&P Healthcare was down 5c at 1255, The Warehouse lost 1c to 535, Baycorp Advantage was down 12c at 260, Sky City was down 5c at 840, Tower lost 2c to 117, and Air New Zealand was down 1c at 50.

Market leader Telecom rose 3c to 524, Auckland International Airport was up 2c at 667, and Sky TV gained 3c to 494 while suitor Independent Newspapers Ltd lost 2c to 452.

There were 49 falls and 39 rises on the 136 stocks traded.

On Wall St the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 109.41 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 9535.41; the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 13.51 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 1022.79; and the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index sagged 31.23 points, or 1.64 per cent, to 1874.47.

- NZPA