KEY POINTS:
There was a steady drift down on the sharemarket today but bright spots like Telecom and Fletcher Building helped give it a small lift.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index closed 5.6 points up, or 0.15 per cent, at 3630.4. There were 43 rises and 49 falls on turnover valued at $111 million.
Telecom, ahead of its third quarter result announcement tomorrow where analysts expect it to announce a net profit after tax of $162m, was up 7c to 385. Another telecommunications firm, Australian company Telstra was also up, by 6c to 556.
The expected profit was lower than previously reported, but would not be a shock as the company had foreshadowed that results may be muted.
"Everybody's expecting the profit to be down on the corresponding quarter last year," Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said.
"But also it would seem with tougher competition with mobile phones etc there will be a lower profit, so it's interesting that one has picked up."
He said Telecom had been "reasonably volatile" this week but the lift was probably due to the result; "there always seems to be buying in anticipation of results, whether its Telecom or something else".
Fletcher Building had a good day, up 8c to 865. Also up was Auckland Airport, 3c to 216 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, 8c to 265.
Contact Energy remained steady on 970 after yesterday's action when it was revealed Britain's BG Group wanted to take over its parent company Origin Energy.
"...People taking profits is being offset by people who are realising that Contact is good value and the prices remain much the same," Mr Wright said.
Westpac announced today its net profit in New Zealand rose 12 per cent to $244 million in the six months to March 31, despite having to make higher provisions.
In Australia, Westpac shares rose as much as 2.5 per cent after the result, before easing, but still outperformed other major Australian banks for most of the day. In New Zealand, the shares closed down $1.13 to 2952.
Dorchester Pacific shares fell to a 17-year low today after the finance company issued its second profit warning in three months, and said its chief executive was moving on. They fell to 33c after the announcement before coming back to close on 40 cents, down 9c on yesterday.
OceanaGold Corporation announced earnings before income tax and unrealised losses on hedges of US$3.1m, compared to a loss of US$300,000 in the first quarter of 2007. It closed 5.5c down at 275.
In the US, stocks fell on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve trimmed interest rates but left unclear the outlook for further rate cuts, prompting profit-taking as the Standard & Poor's 500 index ended its best month since December 2003.
- NZPA
