Top stocks lose ground in quiet trading

The sharemarket had a quiet tone yesterday with stocks that had been selling at a premium, such as The Warehouse and Telecom, coming off slightly, said ABN Amro's head of institutional sales, Nigel Scott.

"It's been a little bit of a mixed day, and the market drifted lower," he said.

Telecom weakened 20c to 758 on turnover of 3.2 million shares worth $24.4 million. The Warehouse was off 30c at 565, and Baycorp lost 10c to close at $11.80.

The Fletcher Challenge stocks had a mixed day, Mr Scott said, with Fletcher Forests "charging up" after a newspaper report that said it was close to reaching a settlement with Chinese Government-owned Citic.

However, Citic released a statement just before the close of trade saying it was disappointed over the lack of progress with Fletcher Forests and there was no resolution in sight.

That led to Forests closing down 3c at 84 on volume of 12.3 million shares worth $13 million, which Mr Scott said took down the other Fletcher stocks - particularly Building which came off 8c at 240.

However, Fletcher Energy fared better, gaining 6c to 718, and Paper was unchanged at 247.

Mr Scott said the speculation was the first about the Fletcher group since the Norske Skog paper deal and more rumours could be expected over the coming months as the group was dismantled.

On the upside, Carter Holt Harvey experienced good trading - probably from money going out of Fletcher Forests and into CHH, Mr Scott said. CHH's stock closed up 3c at 192.

Elsewhere on the market, Lion Nathan had a strong day - rising 5c to 505, Fisher & Paykel rallied 13c to 698 on moderate volume and Advantage was up 12c to 281.

The NZSE-40 Capital Index was down 15.93 to 2125.83 while the NZSE SCI Capital Index gained 30.53 to close at 5220.92.

Turnover totalled $140 million, with rises outnumbering falls 62 to 31 among the 155 stocks traded.

- NZPA