Quiet start for NZ sharemarket

Friday 28th January 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket started the day quietly, as key stock Fletcher Building remained in a trading halt which started before the market opened yesterday.

Reports out of Australia were saying that Fletcher Building has raised its takeover offer for Australian plumbing supplies group Crane Group, whose shares also went into a trading halt yesterday. The reports were not officially confirmed.

Among the small number of early stock movements, Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) was down 2c to $6.17, Kathmandu (NZX: KMD ) fell 3c to $2.10, and Wakefield Health (NZX: WFD ) dropped 9c to $5.56, while Telecom (NZX: TEL ) was unchanged on $2.31.

Shares rising early included Ebos Group (NZX: EBO ), up 4c to $7.45, and Trustpower (NZX: TPW ) up 2c to $7.21, both on low volumes, with Windflow Technology (NZX: WTL ) up 6c to $1.00.

Shares in children's clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch (NZX: PPL ) were unchanged on $1.45, after tumbling 12c yesterday following a warning that it was expecting a fall in profit.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.98 points to 3348.95, after a fall of 3.8 points yesterday.

In the US, strong corporate earnings led Wall Street to a 29-month closing high for a second day, but mixed economic data and corporate earnings left the market unsure of direction.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.03% to 11,989.07, according to preliminary data, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.2% to 1299.54, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.6% to 2755.28.

Mixed economic data and corporate earnings left the market unsure of its direction.

NZPA

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