Telecom, US holidays weigh on trade

The sharemarket finished a quiet lacklustre session lower, weighed down by a sagging Telecom, and looked headed for two more quiet days.

"Volume was $99 million, but the on-market turnover was fairly light. Things seemed to pick up a little bit in the afternoon ... I suspect its going to be the same again [today] and possibly run a little bit into Wednesday with the half day in the US overnight and the holiday (Independence Day) over there [tonight] our time," said Duncan Rutherford at ABN AMRO.

The benchmark NZSE-40 capital index closed down 10.12 points, or 0.49 percent, at 2051.56. Telecom's 14c slide to 731 took 10.5 points off the index, offsetting some gains elsewhere among the leaders including stronger Fletcher stocks.

There was no particular news out yesterday to affect Telecom but Mr Rutherford noted the recent weakness in telcos overseas and said people were awaiting the outcome of the Government's 3GHz spectrum auction next week which could bring one or more mobile phone players into the local market

Fletcher Challenge Paper added 1c to 245 ahead of shareholders voting today on the sale of the division to Norske Skog.

Of other Fletcher stocks, Energy firmed further, adding 5c to 700. Building was up 2c at 229 and Forests 1c to 78.

Combined Fletcher stocks contributed $25.3 million to total turnover and Telecom $27.8 million.

Falls just outpaced rises by 54 to 50 among the 157 stocks traded.

In the United States on Friday, technology stocks ended higher as investors buffed up their end-of-quarter portfolios by shifting out of old-line stocks amid lingering questions about corporate earnings and interest rates.

The Nasdaq composite index ended up 88.88 points, or 2.29 per cent, at 3966.11 and the Dow Jones industrial average was up 49.85 points, or 0.48 per cent, to end at 10,447.89.

Locally Carter Holt Harvey dipped 1c to 184 and Fisher and Paykel lost 2c to 668 on its first day in the Top 10 index while Lion Nathan, which it replaced, jumped 10c to 485. There were also positive performances by Contact Energy, 3c to 288, and Telstra head shares, 15c to 870, and instalment receipts 13c to 490.

WestpactTrust partly paids were 5c stronger at 835.

INL was among the losers, off 10c at 390, while Sky TV rose 1c to 411.

The Warehouse came a little further off the boil, easing 2c to 515, while Baycorp pushed ahead by 12c to another record at $11.50. Technology company Advantage was 10c better at 287.

Smaller companies were softer with their capital index down 14.02 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 5088.24.

- NZPA