Contact Energy pulls sharemarket down

By NZPA

Wednesday 2nd May 2007

An 8c fall in No 3 stock Contact Energy pulled an otherwise lethargic sharemarket down in early business today.

The NZSX-50 index was down 6.72 points to 4184.95 at 10.10am today.

Contact, which had good news about increased gas supply from the Maui field on Monday, was down to $8.90, having fallen 13c yesterday when it reported the average wholesale electricity price in the first quarter was less than half that of a year ago.

Market leader Telecom was down 2c to $4.88. It is expected to report a flat first quarter result tomorrow and there is speculation chief financial officer Marko Bogoievski will be confirmed to replace chief executive Theresa Gattung tomorrow.

Fishing company Sanford was up 8c to $4.58 despite the strong New Zealand dollar.

NZX, which yesterday announced it was trying to set up a carbon trading scheme, was down 5c to $10.00.

Infratil was down 3c to $5.96 and NZ Refining, which last week announced a major expansion, was up 3c to $6.85.

Dental technology company Software of Excellence was up 5c to $2.70. On Monday it said it had received interest from a potential buyer, who it is allowing to examine the books.

Air New Zealand, which has run up strongly in the last two months, was down 3c to $2.75.

Finance company Dominion Finance Holdings was up 2c to $2.12 after it reported today it had nearly doubled net profit after tax to $17.63 million for the year to the end of March.

US stocks closed higher with the Dow Jones industrials setting another record high after news of unexpected growth in manufacturing and a surprise $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

The offer for the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, which sent Dow Jones shares surging more than 54%, was the latest in a wave of takeover proposals, suggesting to some that there was still some value left in the market.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 73.23 points, or 0.56%, at 13,136.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 3.93 points, or 0.27%, to 1486.30 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was rose 6.44 points to 2531.53.

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