NZ shares tread water, Warehouse eases

By NZPA

Friday 12th January 2007

The sharemarket trod water today as the holiday mood kept investors sidelined.

The NZX-50 benchmark index rose 2.19 points or 0.05% to 4051.84 on measley turnover worth $56 million.

One of the few stocks driven by corporate news was The Warehouse, which fell 5c to $7.08 after providing a pre-market update on Christmas trading.

New Zealand's biggest retailer said trading was its best for three years but below expectations.

It expected its interim after-tax net profit would be similar to the previous year's, but would be hit by property disposals and joint venture activities.

"Same store sales of 2.3% and a profit flat on last year's probably a little bit less than the market was hoping for," UBS broker Richard Leggat said.

Bellwether stock Telecom was up 2c to $4.89.

Fletcher Building remained steady in the face of weaker November dwelling data, up 3c to $10.56.

Other leading stocks included Contact Energy, flat at $8.55 after a record of $8.64 yesterday. Sky City fell a cent to $5.07 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare slipped 2c to $4.21.

Other healthcare stocks Ebos Group and Ryman rose 5c to $5.80 and lost 10c to $10.89 respectively.

Also the upside, jeweller Michael Hill was up 12c to $6.80 and Provenco rose 7c or 6.4% to $1.15, Infratil was up 7c to $5.40, and one of its major investments, Trustpower, gained 5c to $7.45.

Trustpower announced today it was setting up a $200m windfarm in south Australia.

Falls outpaced rises 49 to 41 on 139 stocks traded.

Across the Tasman, Australian shares were up 0.8% at midday as miners extended their recovery after recent falls, and contractor Lend Lease Corp Ltd won a British government housing project.

Wall St stocks rose sharply overnight as oil prices extended a sharp decline, and a brokerage raised its profit view on Google Inc.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 72.82 points, or 0.59%, at 12,514.98 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 25.52 points, or 1.04%, at 2484.85.

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