NZ sharemarket starts week with modest gains

The New Zealand sharemarket made small gains on a quiet Monday and is likely to remain subdued tomorrow with a long weekend in the United States market.

"It is unusually quiet because it is a holiday in the United States again tonight and markets are fairly quiet throughout Asia as well," said James Lee, head of institutional equities at First NZ Capital. "There are just small at the margin moves," he said.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 9.235 points, or 0.314 per cent, at 2947.344, after gaining 4.3 points on Friday.

The shares of market operator NZX rose 10c, or 6.85 per cent, to 156 after the company said it intends to buy back up to 3.571 million shares.

Telecom eased 2c to 182 on a day on which there was speculation final bids are due this week for its AAPT unit.

Contact Energy rose 9c to 582 and Fletcher Building eased 6c to 760.

Guinness Peat Group was unchanged at 65 but there was good volume traded in the stock as investors continue to assess the fallout from its recent boardroom battle.

There was also good volume in APN News shares, but brokers said it was a New Zealand investor trading the shares in the Australian market.

The Warehouse eased 4c to 336, Tourism Holdings rose 3c to 78 and SkyCity rose 5c to 293.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 6c to 312 and the appliance stock rose 1c to 54. Tourism Holdings rose 3c to 78. Steel & Tube rose 11c to 226 and Pike River Coal rose 3c to 89.

ING Property rose 1c to 67, ING Medical Property rose 2c to 122 and AMP Office Trust rose 1c to 71.

Air NZ fell 1c to 104 and Port of Tauranga fell 1c to 659. Freightways fell 1c to 273 and TrustPower fell 2c to 718. Restaurant Brands fell 4c to 231.

In the United States stocks fell on Friday (local time) to close out their worst week in two months as disappointing jobs data joined other recent evidence pointing to a tepid economic recovery.

Volume was among the five lightest days of the year, with many participants leaving early for the long July 4 holiday weekend.

Adding to stocks' weaker tone was a technical move that indicated more selling pressure may be ahead. The S&P 500's 50-day moving average broke below its 200-day moving average, a break known as the "death cross".

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.5 per cent to 9686.48, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.5 per cent to 1022.58, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.5 per cent to 2091.79.

For the week, the Dow fell 4.5 per cent, the S&P lost 5 per cent and the Nasdaq shed 5.9 per cent.

- NZPA