Sharemarket opens little changed

Wednesday 23rd March 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket opened little changed after a rally on Wall Street ran out of steam and as investors waited for key economic data locally.

The benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.12 points at 3363.58 in early trading after it closed up 16.86 points yesterday.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) fell 2c to $8.76, Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) eased a cent to $5.75, and Telecom (NZX: TEL ) was unchanged at $1.99.

Skellerup (NZX: SKL ) rose 2c to $1.35, Goodman Property (NZX: GMT ) rose 1c to 93 and Air NZ (NZX: AIR ) rose 1c to $1.12. Vector (NZX: VCT ) rose 1c to $2.47.

Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ) eased a cent to $8.69, Auckland Airport (NZX: AIA ) was unchanged at $214.5, and Infratil (NZX: IFT ) eased a cent to $1.92.

US stocks edged lower on Tuesday following three days of gains, but the recent rally has investors feeling less edgy about crises in Japan and Libya, and should help keep losses in check.

Perry Piazza, director of investment strategy at Contango Capital Advisors in San Francisco, said that in the near term, the S&P may trade below its 50-day moving average at 1304, which has been acting as a resistance level.

"The combination of Japan getting better and some progress in Libya has been enough to get people interested again," he said. "That said, there's still a lot of uncertainty and high commodity prices that are starting to dent confidence."

The Dow Jones industrial average shed 17.90 points, or 0.15%, to 12,018.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 4.61 points, or 0.36%, to 1293.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 8.22 points, or 0.31%, to 2683.87.

NZPA

Comments from our readers

No comments yet