KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket gave up early gains to finish a quiet Monday flat.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 0.522 points, or 0.019 per cent at 2676.43. Turnover was worth $67 million. There were 28 rises and 48 falls.
Around Asia the equity markets which took a hit on Friday from a Senate rejection of a package for US automakers rose on the expectation that the US Treasury will bail the automakers out.
"They were open longer and got sold off more on Friday," said James Smalley, a client adviser with Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.
The New Zealand market was up for most of the day.
"It was subdued Monday trading," Mr Smalley said.
Air New Zealand was unchanged at 84 on a day it accused the Commerce Commission of grandstanding with legal action against it and 12 other airlines for alleged "extensive and long-term cartel activity in the air cargo market".
Telecom rose 4c to 236 on light volume.
Fletcher Building rose 6c to 576 on reasonable volume. Brokers did not attribute the rise to any particular reason though a report today noted how much more affordable homes have become.
Nuplex, which has been out of favour for some time, eased another 20c to 280.
NZOG rose 5c to 129 on good volume. Pan Pacific Petroleum, a partner with NZOG in the Tui oilfield, rose 10c to 33c today. The volume in Pan Pacific Petroluem was heavy for the stock and was driven out of Australia as the stock is dual listed.
Mr Smalley said there may be sympathetic buying NZOG.
Infratil rose 3c to 170 and NZX rose 5c to 555. Rakon fell 3c to 132 and Ebos eased 1c to 425. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare eased 6c to 296.
Cavalier eased 1c to 199 after saying it was taking part in a rationalisation of the wool scouring industry.
Hallenstein Glassons eased 10c to 220 and Hellaby eased 5c to 118. Tower eased 7c to 139. TrustPower eased 4c to 705.
Sanford eased 26 to 515. SkyCity eased 3c to 284 and SkyTV eased 7c to 385. Wakefield rose 19c to 869.
Wall Street rebounded from an early sell-off to end higher after the government said it would assist troubled US automakers on Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 200 at the open when it appeared the bailout might be dead. But all the major indicators began to regain ground when the White House and the Treasury announced they were considering diverting money from the Wall Street rescue fund to the US carmakers.
The Dow rose 64.59, or 0.75 per cent, to 8629.68. The Dow had tumbled 196 points on Thursday as worries intensified that the auto bill would stall in the Senate.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.14, or 0.70 per cent, to 879.73, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 32.84, or 2.18 per cent, to 1,540.72.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 17.22, or 3.82 per cent, to 468.43.
For the week, the Dow ended with a loss of fewer than 6 points, or 0.07 per cent. The S&P 500 rose 0.42 per cent, while the Nasdaq advanced 2.08 per cent because of Friday's gains.
Since its November 20 low, the Dow is up 14.3 per cent, the S&P 500 is up 16.9 per cent and the Nasdaq has a gain of 17.1 per cent.
- NZPA
