MARKET CLOSE: Sharemarket rises, Fletcher volumes big

Friday 1st April 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket shrugged off a weak open to end higher on a day in which financial markets focused on looming US employment data.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) ended unchanged at $9.34 but again accounted for much of the market's volume. Market turnover today was worth $168.26 million, of which $77.4 million was in Fletcher Building shares.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 12.287 points, or 0.357%, at 3452.136. There were 43 rises and 37 falls among the 114 stocks traded.

"Tonight's non-farm payrolls report will be the big focus in the coming hours. As it stands, the market is expecting approximately 190,000 new jobs to have been created. A much stronger-than-expected figure is likely to give the hawks further ammunition for the normalisation of monetary policy, hence providing further support for the US dollar," said Ben Potter, from IG Markets.

Telecom (NZX: TEL ) rose 3.5c to $2.04.5 and Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) rose a cent to $5.83.

OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) rose 8c to $3.68 on light volume, while Restaurant Brands (NZX: RBD ) rose 5c to $2.34.

PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ) rose a cent to 52 on a day Agria said it had 42.2% of the company. It has extended its partial bid seeking 50.1% of the company.

Kiwi Income Property Trust (NZX: KIP ) was unchanged at $1.00 on a day it announced a $10 million upgrade of its Centre Place shopping centre in Hamilton.

SkyCity (NZX: SKC ) rose 4c to $3.42, and Auckland Airport (NZX: AIA ) rose 1c to 42.22.5.

Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ) rose a cent to $8.95 and Freightways (NZX: FRE ) eased 2c to $3.24.

Guinness Peat Group (NZX: GPG ) eased a cent to 78. NZX (NZX: NZX ) rose a cent to $2.15. TrustPower (NZX: TPW ) eased 2c to $7.18 and Skellerup (NZX: SKL ) eased a cent at $1.32.

AirNZ (NZX: AIR ) eased a cent to $1.10. Pumpkin Patch (NZX: PPL ) eased 2c to $1.33. NZ Refining (NZX: NZR ) eased 9c to 44.80.

In the US, stocks ended a solid quarter with the barest of moves, as investors looked ahead to the US jobs report.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.3% to 12,319.73, the Standard & Poor's 500 dipped 0.2% to 1325.83, and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.2% to 2781.07.

For the month, the Dow edged up 0.76%, the S&P shed 0.1% and Nasdaq dipped 0.04%.

That trend also proved true for the entire first quarter, with the Dow rising 6.4%, compared with the S&P's gain of 5.4% and the Nasdaq's advance of 4.8%.

NZPA

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