NZ market eases in quiet trade

The New Zealand sharemarket gave up a little ground on a day in which the NZ dollar got a boost from better than expected retail sales.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 9.42 points, or 0.296 per cent, at 3169.464. Turnover was worth $89 million. There were 47 rises and 38 falls among the 117 stocks traded.

Fletcher Building fell 15c to 800 and while there has been some debate about a housing shortage the most likely cause of the weakness was profit-taking by investors.

"After having a very good run through September and October it is giving up some of its gains," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

"I think the market is fearful that the retail sales will fuel the NZ dollar, which is continuing to weigh on some shares."

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare fell 3c to 298, Pike River Coal fell 3c to 110 and NZOG fell 8c to 169.

Contact Energy rose 5c to 605 and Telecom fell 1c to 493. SkyCity fell 2c to 321 and TrustPower fell 4c to 742.

APN News rose 14c to 270, Cavalier rose 12c to 260 and Fisher and Paykel Appliances rose 1c to 67.

The property sector was firm with ING Property up 1c to 81 and Goodman Property up 3c at 104.

Infratil eased 2c to 162 as manoeuvring continued in the industrial action involving its subsidiary NZ Bus.

Pyne Gould rights were again traded heavily and the price remained at 0.1c.

PGG Wrightson fell 1c to 62. "Everyone is waiting to see what's going to happen, whether a white knight comes into the party of whether the company tries to raise capital off its own shareholder base," Mr Williamson said with respect to PGG Wrightson.

Horizon Energy was untraded and directors today recommended shareholders reject Marlborough Lines' partial takeover offer for 51 per cent of the company.

In the US, the S&P 500 managed a sixth consecutive day of gains on Monday to end at its closing high for the year as energy shares rose alongside the price of oil.

But the market lost some strength in the afternoon and trading was volatile with many market players away for the Columbus Day holiday.

Results from major banks will be in the spotlight this week with JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group and Bank of America Corp all set to report.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 20.86 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 9885.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 4.70 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 1076.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index was off 0.14 point, or 0.01 per cent, to 2139.14.

- NZPA