KEY POINTS:
After edging down for two days, the sharemarket closed virtually flat, with investor attention swinging towards infrastructure.
The NZSX-50 index closed down 0.44 points or 0.01 per cent to 4279.78, despite new records being set on Wall Street the night before. Turnover totalled $107 million, and rises outnumbered falls 56 to 45 .
ABN Amro Craigs senior broker Bryon Burke said the market had ignored healthier offshore performances.
There was weakness in in-play stocks Auckland Airport and Sky City, and with little company news providing direction, "what investment there is today is heading for the infrastructure assets".
TrustPower put on 16c to 891 on thin trading, and key shareholder Infratil rose 6c to 310, as the company's chief executive, Lloyd Morrison, put his hand up for election to the Auckland Airport board.
Infratil jointly owns about 6 per cent of Auckland Airport with the NZ Super Fund, but the airport itself fell 3c to 302, as shareholders await more information about a proposed takeover bid.
"It got down to 298, sending a little bit of a signal that it's not going to be plain sailing. Certainly with Lloyd Morrison putting his hand up for the board...it's hardly going to be an easy takeover, is it?"
Sky City, also a possible takeover target, softened 2c to 525 on strong volume worth $15.2 million. The stock has largely held onto its gains since news of an unnamed possible suitor last month, when the stock was $4.33.
Mr Burke said media reports and one research house had cast doubt on the likelihood of a successful bid.
Air New Zealand tumbled 10c to 216 as a second rival, Qantas, announced it was ramping up domestic operations.
Among the leaders, market heavyweight Telecom was unchanged at 454 , Fletcher Building was up 2c to 1242 and No 3 stock, Contact Energy, edged up 4c to 930.
Abano Healthcare jumped 3c to a seven-year high of 440, soaring far above the partial takeover bid price of major shareholder Masthead, at $3.85.
Another small stock, OceanaGold jumped 11c to a record 395, while beverage company Charlie's Group was the day's best performer, up 8 per cent or 1.5c to 19.5c.
Australian bank Westpac was up 21c to 3501, ANZ rose 22c to 3672 and AMP was up 34c to 1274.
In Australia, the sharemarket hit another intraday record , up 0.7 per cent to 6,725.1, before easing off in mid-afternoon trading.
It was the latest in a string of record peaks over the past two weeks.
Wall St also had a good night, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed inflation expectations were contained, leaving open the question of whether another rate cut is near.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 119.26 points, or 0.85 per cent, at 14,162.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 12.55 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 1565.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 16.54 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 2803.91.
- NZPA
