MARKET CLOSE: Sharemarket ends slightly higher

Thursday 23rd December 2010

The New Zealand sharemarket posted modest gains today in quiet trading ahead of the Christmas holiday break.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 11.38 points, or 0.343%, at 3333.758, having opened slightly ahead. The Australian market was buoyed today by corporate activity and strong commodity prices. Wall Street rose to its highest level since Lehman Brothers collapsed.

Telecom (NZX: TEL ) rose 2c to $2.24, Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) rose 4c to $7.83 and Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) rose 8c to $6.25.

Retailers were mixed after electronic transaction company Paymark said this week that the last weekend before Christmas had not been a good one for retailers. Weaker than expected growth data today also reinforced the view that the economy is struggling to recover. The Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) fell 6c to $3.59 and Michael Hill (NZX: MHI ) fell 1c to 87. Hallenstein Glasson (NZX: HLG ) was unchanged at $4.09.

NZ Oil and Gas (NZX: NZO ) was unchanged at 83 on a day ACC disclosed it has increased it stake to 6.38% from 5.01%. OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) fell 8c to $4.92 as it spelled out plans to increase activity at its Reefton and Macraes open cut mines.

Vector (NZX: VCT ) fell 5c to $2.30 on a day it expressed disappointment with a final determination by the Commerce Commission on input methodologies for electricity and gas distribution businesses. The company is considering if it will pursue appeal options.

PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ) fell 1c to 48 as it received payments form NZ Farming Systems Uruguay for the previously announced buyout of a management agreement.

Infratil (NZX: IFT ), which released a monthly newsletter updating the performance of its investments, was unchanged at $1.92. The company this week signalled the early closure of a sale of infrastructure bonds due to strong demand.

Abano Healthcare (NZX: ABA ) rose 3c to $4.84 after saying its Aotea Pathology would provide services to Wellington region district health boards for another three years.

Mercer Group (NZX: MGL ) was untraded after reaching agreement with Westpac to extend a funding facility for another year.

US stocks edged higher on Wednesday as gains in financial stocks helped put the S&P 500 on pace for a fifth-straight winning session and lifted the benchmark index to levels not seen since before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 26.33 points, or 0.23%, to 11,559.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 4.24 points, or 0.34%, to 1255.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 3.87 points, or 0.15%, to 2671.48.

NZPA

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