NZ stocks: Market becalmed as reporting season awaited

New Zealand shares were stuck in the mud this morning, after shedding half a per cent amid negative offshore sentiment on Friday.

Just after 11am the NZSE-40 capital index was down 3.35 points to 1977.69 on a low $18.3 million.

One of the early risers was Singapore-listed BIL International, formerly Brierley Investments. It was up 4c to 63c after British papers reported that it had approved the sale of its 46 per cent stake in the troubled British hotel chain, Thistle Hotels.

The stake will fetch about £750 million ($NZ2.56 billion), the Business Times said. Chief executive Ian Burke is also lining up a management buyout at around £720 million, it said.

The market's fortunes this week are expected to be largely dominated by individual stocks, as the company reporting season swings into gear.

Market bellwether Telecom was up a cent to 471 ahead of its annual results on Friday.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, down 5c to 840, will also announce its first quarter results on Friday.

The Warehouse, which releases its fourth quarter sales figures on Wednesday, was steady at 715 and Waste Management, which will report its first half result on Thursday, was down 2c to 308.

Investors will also be watching Fletcher Forests closely as the battle continues between itself and rebel shareholder Xylem over the Central North Island Forest Partnership. Preference shares were down a cent this morning to 22 while ordinary shares were steady on 23.

Carter Holt Harvey topped the turnover by volume on 1.2 million shares in mostly pre-market crossings, losing 2c to 182.

So far there have been 13 rises and 34 falls on 82 stocks traded.

On Wall St, stocks sank on Friday, tossing major gauges down more than 2 per cent, as poor jobs and factory orders data sent investors fleeing to bonds.

Fears of a double-dip US recession sent the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average tumbling 193.49 points, or 2.27 per cent, to 8,313.13. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 20.42 points, or 2.31 per cent, to 864.24. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index fell 32.08 points, or 2.51 per cent, to 1,247.92.

- NZPA