NZ sharemarket lower as company results pause, NZD climbs

By NZPA

Monday 19th February 2007

The New Zealand sharemarket slunk lower today as the flood of reporting companies slowed to a trickle, giving investors a chance for pause.

The NZSX-50 index closed down 39.67 points, or 0.9%, at 4140.22. Turnover was unimpressive at $97.6 million.

"I just think we're seeing a bit of profit-taking -- there's a holiday in the US tonight, it's Chinese New Year so Asian markets are quiet, and the New Zealand dollar has nudged up through US70c so the exporters are under a bit of pressure," said Richard Leggat of UBS.

"Our view is that the reporting season has been a touch on the disappointing side, so the market, which has had a very strong run over the last four months, is just seeing a bit of a pull-back," he said.

That was in contrast to a number of positive surprises from Australian companies, which has prompted New Zealand investors to move money into that market.

Among the top three stocks, Telecom fell 11c to $4.96, Fletcher Building was steady at $10.92, and Contact Energy shed 17c to $8.65 following about four months of impressive gains.

Utilities investor Infratil was off a cent at $5.79, after reporting a near fourfold increase in nine-month net profit on the back of asset sales, improved returns from its energy investments, and a contribution from its bus operations.

Infratil's energy asset TrustPower was up 2c at $8.52.

Blue chip medical equipment maker and exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 7c to a three-month closing low of $4.13, and F&P Appliances was down 5c at $3.65.

Among the few top-50 stocks on the positive side of the ledger, Hallenstein Glasson was up 3c at $5.21, Rubicon gained a cent to 91, The Warehouse was up 2c at $7.05, and Mainfreight rose 2c to $8.07.

Lion Nathan fell 20c to $9.62 and Ryman Healthcare was down 8c at $2.22.

Trans-Tasman financial services company Promina was off 4c at $8.47. The company's New Zealand unit generated a 32% rise in net profit to $A45m ($NZ51.1m), outperforming its nearly 8% rise in annual profit to $A545m.

In Australia, the stock market remained 0.8% higher due to the big banks and generally positive investor sentiment. Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.2% to a nearly seven-year high.

On Friday, news that General Motors was in early talks to buy Chrysler followed a flurry of takeover talk, including a report that American brewer Anheuser-Busch could be in talks with Belgium's InBev.

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