NZ stocks: Market quiet, awaiting interest rate news

12.00pm

The sharemarket was trading quietly this morning, with brokers noting a touch of profit-taking.

Just after opening the NZSE-40 capital index was down 1.76 points to 2069.06 on turnover of $12 million.

As usual, Telecom led the way down 2c to 489 on turnover of $1.6 million.

Philip Hardie Boys, a broker with Credit Suisse First Boston, said the market's lull appeared to be due to investors adopting a wait-and-see approach over whether the Reserve Bank would announce a rise in interest rates tomorrow.

"It's the same in the States, the Federal Reserve is meeting tomorrow and in some ways, that's more important than New Zealand's meeting."

Auckland Airport was down 1c this morning to 439 as one of its major shareholders, the Auckland City Council, went into a three-day meeting to discuss among other things, the sale of its 25.7 per cent stake.

There have been past concerns that the sale would create a share overhang, but good profit figures have seen the stock rise by more than 16 per cent in the last three weeks

Fletcher Building lost 1c to 298 on steady turnover worth $1.2 million. It was chased by GPG down 1c to 184.

Other movers include Air NZ steady at 33, BIL International down 1c to 54, Sky City down 3c to 585, Wakefield down 10c to 150, and the Warehouse up 5c to 720, a new all time high.

Steel & Tube eased 2c to 288 after announcing the purchase of pipe and fittings distributor Pipeline Supplies New Zealand from Australian steel maker OneSteel Ltd for about $11.7 million.

There have been 29 rises and 28 falls on 102 stocks traded so far.

On Wall St, blue chips were down and the broad market was steady as US investors also awaited news on whether interest rates would rise.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average fell 29.48 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 10,577.75, way above earlier lows, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index finished essentially flat, off 0.59 of a point, or 0.05 per cent, at 1,165.55. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index added 8.76 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 1,877.06.

- NZPA