Sharechat Logo

NZ sharemarket flat in early trading

Thursday 3rd February 2011

Text too small?

The New Zealand sharemarket opened on a quiet note today, with stocks showing little movement.

Political unrest in Egypt and major storms hitting Australia and the United States injected uncertainty in international markets, while in New Zealand a rise in the NZ dollar above US78c yesterday hurt some exporters.

Around 10.20am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was at 3354.683, retreating from yesterday's high of 3372.261.

Briscoe Group (NZX: BGR ) opened at $1.36 after today reporting sales for the 12 months to the end of January edged up from a year earlier, with a strong start to the December and Christmas trading period offsetting disappointing Boxing Day sales.

The company also said, excluding a one-off tax adjustment, it expected it would have been able to report a full year tax paid profit of more than $23 million, 10% up on a year earlier.

Telecom (NZX: TEL ) added 1c to $2.23 after advising its weighting in the S&P ASX 200 index will fall to around 25% to 30% of its current weighting due to changes in index methodology.

Insurance stocks in Australia remained under pressure amid worries about claims from Cyclone Yasi, while in New Zealand insurer Tower at its annual meeting yesterday was accused of being over-capitalised.

Tower (NZX: TWR ) shares fell 1c to $1.94 and Guinness Peat Group (NZX: GPG ) shares remained unchanged at 68.

Auckland Airport (NZX: AIA ), which owns 24.55% of North Queensland Airports, the operator of Cairns and Mackay airports in which were buffeted by Cyclone Yasi, gained 1c to $2.25.

Air NZ (NZX: AIR ), which cancelled one direct flight from Auckland to Cairns yesterday, rose 1c to $1.39.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) fell 2c to $7.88 after adding 12c yesterday, SkyCity (NZX: SKC ) remained at $3.36 and Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ) shares were unchanged at $8.40.

Hellaby Holdings (NZX: HBY ) fell 3c to $2.21 while the Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) gained 1c to $3.59.

Meanwhile, US stocks seesawed between modest gains and losses with investors reluctant to make big bets on stocks even though data showed US private employers added more jobs than expected in January.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 2.16 points, or 0.02%, at 12,042.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.45 points, or 0.11%, at 1,306.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.45 points, or 0.16%, at 2,755.64.

 

NZPA



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report