NZ sharemarket falls early

Monday 21st February 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket was lower in early trading at the start of the week, with declines in key shares, and PGG Wrightson was down after a second possible bidder ruled itself out of the running for the company.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) lost 4c early to $8.35, Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) dropped 3c to $6.22, and Telecom (NZX: TEL ) was down 2c to $2.23.

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. PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ) shares fell 3c early to 54.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 9.49 points to 3403.25, after reaching a 2-1/2-year high on Friday when it closed up 17 points.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZX: FPH ) fell 2c to $3.07, Trustpower (NZX: TPW ) dropped 2c to $7.20, and Sky TV (NZX: SKT ) fell 4c to $5.54, while Abano Healthcare (NZX: ABA ) gained 6c to $4.71, Cavalier Corp (NZX: CAV ) lifted 5c to $3.28, Sky City (NZX: SKC ) added 2c to $3.31, and Xero (NZX: XRO ) added 2c to $2.65.

In the US, late arrivals to the speediest rally in stocks since the Great Depression pushed stocks higher for a third week on Friday, 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.

On Friday 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.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 gained 1%, and the Nasdaq added 0.9%.

NZPA

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