NZ sharemarket rises slightly

The New Zealand sharemarket was helped along by a rises in selected leading stocks today but trading was thin with the week in the United States and United Kingdom starting with holidays.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 13.479 points, or 0.442 per cent, at 3061.225. Turnover was worth $75.67 million. There were 35 rises and 37 falls among the 101 stocks traded.

Telecom closed up 4c to 190 and traded as high as 191 after falling to a record low last week and Fletcher Building rose 14c to 826.

The biggest percentage risers in the larger listings included Hellaby up 3.95 per cent to 158 and Guinness Peat Group up 2.57 per cent to 69.

Shares in shower and tapware company Methven ended unchanged after the company reported a 22.2 per cent fall in full year net profit to $7.8 million.

TrustPower fell 15c at 710 but it is trading ex a 29c a share dividend from today.

Auckland Airport was unchanged at 188 on a day it noted the Commerce Commission published draft decisions on information disclosure requirements for airports. Infratil, also an airport owner, was unchanged at 162.

SkyCity rose 3c to 297. Mainfreight rose 4c to 624 and NZX rose 1c to 166. Tower rose 1c to 190.

Falling stocks included Tourism Holdings down 7c to 75, Pike River Coal 3c to 99, AMP Office Trust 2c to 71 and ING Medical Property Trust 3c to 120.

NZF Group and Dorchester Pacific were untraded and CER Group closed at 1.3c. All reported earnings today.

Allied Farmers fell 0.8c to 5.1 after disclosing further impairments to the Hanover Finance and United Finance portfolio. Xero eased 5c to 140.

In the United States, a fall in stocks on Friday capped their worst month in over a year.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.2 per cent to 10,136.63, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.2 per cent to 1089.41, and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.9 per cent to 2257.04.

For the month, the Dow fell 7.9 per cent, the S&P shed 8.2 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 8.3 per cent. The declines were the worst for the Dow and S&P since February 2009 while the Nasdaq suffered its worst monthly drop since November 2008.

For the week, the Dow edged 0.6 per cent lower, the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq added 1.3 per cent.

- NZPA