Tug-of-war day evens out up and downs

A dive by US technology stocks was brushed aside by the sharemarket, which finished steady after a session of directionless trade.

"There was a bit of a tug-of-war between buyers and sellers meaning rises and falls pretty much offset each other," said Peter Stokes at JB Were.

He noted that the market was moving into the profit reporting season both here and in the US.

"Locally there seems to be a vacuum of corporate news as companies hold off making announcements ahead of releasing profit figures," he said.

Telecom, which has been providing direction lately, had a quiet day finishing unchanged at 755.

Fisher & Paykel scored well, up 25c at 740 as investors warm to a good defensive story. Its share price has gained more than 10 per cent since the stock joined the Top 10 index on July 3.

Montana added 6c to 243 and Fletcher Challenge Energy gave up some gains, finishing down 10c at 755. It said it was curtailing its Brunei exploration programme after plugging and abandoning a third well.

Newcomer Frucor continued to stand out with a 17c jump to 220. Mr Stokes noted this was now near the indicative price range given before the company floated at 150c on June 13.

Fletcher Building added 2c to 245, and Air New Zealand was mixed with its A ordinaries off 2c at 181, and its B shares up 1c at 234.

AMP firmed 5c to $22.30, and Sky TV 4c to 411, while Telstra head shares slid 11c to 899 and its instalment receipts 16c to 514.

The Warehouse slipped 5c to 570, Baycorp 10c to $11.80, and Advantage Group 10c to 265.

GDC Communications spiked up 30c to 380.

Smaller companies were brighter with their capital index ahead 36.50 points to 5259.25.

The benchmark NZSE-capital index closed half a point higher at 2132.39 on total turnover of $104.5 million, of which Telecom accounted for $36.3 million.

Sliders outpaced risers by 57 to 45 among the 156 stocks traded.

- NZPA