NZ stocks: Market edges lower in morning trade

The New Zealand sharemarket edged lower in morning trade today with top stocks Telecom, Contact Energy and Carter Holt Harvey turning in mixed performances.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 2.07 points at 2927.41, while the NZSX-All capital index was down 1.10 points at 969.88.

Morning turnover was $27.6 million, with 33 rises and 39 falls among the 128 stocks traded.

ABN Amro Craigs broker James Lock said the market got off to a quiet start and he expected that to be the theme of trade this week.

CHH was first out of the blocks, saying the board of its Australian takeover target, Wadepack, supported the off-market move.

CHH is offering A270c (301c) a share for the packaging firm, a 20.5 per cent premium on Wadepack's ASX-listed shares, which closed at A224c on Friday.

Shares in CHH were unchanged at 217.

Trade in the shares of market heavyweight Telecom and financial services firm Tower were the other salient points today.

Telecom was down 1c to 603 on turnover of $15.2m.

"So long as interest rates don't do anything silly I think we could see a higher share price in Telecom going forward," Mr Lock said.

"Certainly the valuation would point to that."

The New Zealand dollar, which today opened at US71.7c, would also be a factor in on-market trade.

"It's probably held back the performance of the market to date," Mr Lock said.

"There's been continual profit taking on the kiwi dollar against the Australian or US dollars," he said.

"Whether that continues or not remains to be seen."

Financial services firm Tower lost 2c to 216 on turnover of $2m after its full year profit announcement last week.

Resthome operator Ryman Healthcare was down 4c at 325 after it last week posted a record September half net profit of $11.1m, from $8.4m at the same time last year.

New Zealand Oil & Gas was down 3c at 114 after a recent run-up.

Shares in NGC Holdings were down 2c at 313 after Auckland lines firm Vector last week said it would buy Australian Gas Light's 66 per cent stake in the gas lines company directly.

It would also make a full takeover offer.

Other stocks on the move included Contact Energy up 6c at 630, Air NZ down 1c at 166, Fletcher Building up 2c at 597, Tenon up 1c at 222, Wrightson down 2c at 168, Steel & Tube up 3c at 455, and AMP down 9c at 746.

- NZPA