MARKET CLOSE: Sharemarket starts week on back foot

Monday 21st February 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket started the week on the back foot with declines in key shares, including Telecom and Fletcher Building.

The benchmark NZX-50 index fell a whopping 30 points to 3381.93, after reaching a high on Friday when it closed up 17 points.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) lost 9c to $8.30, Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) eased 6c to $6.19, and Telecom (NZX: TEL ) fell 5c to $2.20.

PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ) shares dropped 3c, or just over 5%, to $5.40 after a second possible bidder ruled itself out of the running for the company.

PGG Wrightson said a party that had been interested in the company had decided it would not be making a formal takeover offer. A partial takeover offer by shareholder Agria Corp continues.

Cavalier Corp (NZX: CAV ) lifted 5c to $3.28 after reporting a half-year lift in sales and profit, fishing company Sanford (NZX: SAN ) added 12c and Sky City (NZX: SKC ) gained 1c to $3.30.

Meanwhile, Sky TV (NZX: SKT ) fell 13c to $5.45, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZX: FPH ) fell 5c to $3.04, Trustpower (NZX: TPW ) dropped 2c to $7.20, while Abano Healthcare (NZX: ABA ) gained 1c to $4.66, and Xero (NZX: XRO ) added 2c to $2.65.

Nuplex (NZX: NPX ) fell 3c to $3.72, ahead of the release of its half-year results on Thursday, The Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) eased 4c to $3.51 and OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) dropped 14c to $3.71.

In the US, late arrivals to the speediest rally in stocks since the Great Depression pushed stocks higher for a third week on Friday (local time), despite growing signals of an overheating market.

Analysts said investors appeared reluctant to sell despite slack volume and a narrowing spread between winners and losers.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.6% to 12,391.25, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.2% to 1343.01, and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.1% to 2833.95.

NZPA

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