Sharemarket flat as PGG Wrightson gains 12%

Friday 24th December 2010

Shares in rural services company PGG Wrightson rose 12.5% in early trading after a partial takeover bid for the company was announced.

Agria, which now has 19.01% of PGG Wrightson, has launched a bid at 60c a share with New Hope Group, another Chinese agricultural company, to take its stake in PGG Wrightson to 50.01%.

Shortly after the New Zealand sharemarket opened today, PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ) shares were up 6c to 54, having ranged between 67 and 43 in the past year.

The broader market was flat early, with the benchmark NZX-50 index up 0.47 points to 3334.23 around 10.15am, having gained 11.4 points yesterday.

Key stock Telecom (NZX: TEL ) fell 3c to 221, with Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ) also down 3c, to 789, OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) fell 8c to 484, and Sky TV (NZX: SKT ) was down 2c to 528. NZ Refining Co (NZX: NZR ) lifted 4c to 441, Vector (NZX: VCT ) gained 5c to 235, while Air New Zealand (NZX: AIR ) gained 2c to 152.

Stocks in the US ended mixed after reports showed small improvements in consumer spending and the job market.

Preliminary figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.1% to 11,573, the S&P 500 index fell 0.2% to 1256, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.2% to 2665.

NZPA

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