Quiet start for NZ sharemarket

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand sharemarket started the day quietly, as key stock Fletcher Building remained in a trading halt which started before the market opened yesterday.

Reports out of Australia were saying that Fletcher Building has raised its takeover offer for Australian plumbing supplies group Crane Group, whose shares also went into a trading halt yesterday. The reports were not officially confirmed.

Among the small number of early stock movements, Contact Energy was down 2c to 617, Kathmandu Holdings fell 3c to 210, and Wakefield Health dropped 9c to 556, while Telecom was unchanged on 231.

Shares rising early included Ebos Group, up 4c to 745, and Trustpower up 2c to 721, both on low volumes, with Windflow Technology up 6c to 100.

Shares in children's clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch were unchanged on 145, after tumbling 12c yesterday following a warning that it was expecting a fall in profit.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.98 points to 3348.95, after a fall of 3.8 points yesterday.

In the United States, strong corporate earnings led Wall Street to a 29-month closing high for a second day, but mixed economic data and corporate earnings left the market unsure of direction.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.03 per cent to 11,989.07, according to preliminary data, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.2 per cent to 1299.54, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.6 per cent to 2755.28.

Mixed economic data and corporate earnings left the market unsure of its direction.

- NZPA