Telecom and Fletcher Building give shares a boost

File photo / NZ Herald

The New Zealand sharemarket rose slightly yesterday, as key stock Telecom pushed back to the level of the 14-month high reached last Thursday.

The NZX-50 index rose 8.08 points, or 0.229 per cent, to 3543.87.

Telecom shares closed up 4c at $2.34.5 and traded as high as $2.35, the level reached last Thursday.

The company yesterday noted that the finance and expenditure select committee had reported back on the Telecommunications Amendment Bill and supplementary order paper but did not comment further.

The strength in the market came as other equity markets were weak on concerns about European debt and weak commodity prices, and as investors waited for Thursday's Budget and the credit rating agencies' reaction to it.

Fletcher Building rose 9c to $9.01 and Skellerup rose 2c to $1.33.

The Warehouse added 1c to $3.75, just below the five-month high of $3.77 reached on Friday.

Infratil eased 2c to $1.90 ahead of its result today and Goodman Property rose 1c to 96c ahead of its result later this week.

Port of Tauranga rose 8c to $8.89 and Sanford rose 5c to $5.55.

Nuplex rose 2c to $3.11 and TrustPower rose 4c to $7.55.

Contact Energy eased a cent to $5.98 and Vector eased a cent to $2.51.

Mainfreight eased 10c to $9.35 and Steel & Tube eased 5c to $2.55.

OceanaGold eased 9c to $3.01.

Rakon eased 3c to $1.22. Tower eased a cent to $1.82 and Air NZ eased a cent to $1.12.

In the United States, stocks ended a second week of losses on a down note, reflecting growing worries that stocks are on the precipice of a pullback.

Concern about slowed growth worldwide, the coming end of a supportive Federal Reserve policy and the fear of a worsening eurozone debt crisis are undermining the stockmarket's ability to maintain an upward direction.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.8 per cent at 12,595.75, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index finished down 0.8 per cent at 1337.77, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.2 per cent at 2828.47.

For the week, the Dow was down 0.3 per cent, the S&P 500 was off 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq was barely up at 0.03 per cent.

- NZPA