NZ market: Gains for Hallenstein

File photo / NZ Herald

New Zealand's top-50 index dipped a little today, holding on to most of its recent gains despite an indifferent performance from shares across the board.

One highlight was clothing retailer Hallenstein Glasson, which hit a nearly three-year high of 439, up 15c.

Yesterday, the company reported annual pre-tax earnings rose nearly 60 per cent to $29.2 million, boosted by an improved buying regime and the stronger New Zealand dollar.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 8.92 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 3230.23. That followed a 28-point rise yesterday.

Among the blue chips, Fletcher Building gained 6c to 859, and Contact Energy lost 10c to 571. Auckland Airport and Telecom were unchanged, at 207 and 204 respectively.

Sky City lost a cent to 288, and Sky TV -- which is using Ocron's network to launch its online television service iSky -- was down 10c at 509.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 5c to 300, and Infratil was down a cent at 179.

A handful of stocks bucked the downward trend, with Freightway up 2c to 299, Mainfreight up 3c at 718, NZ Refining 9c higher at 369, and Kathmandu up 7c at 189.

AMP Office Trust was down a cent at 76. A proposed management fee review and plans to change from a trust to a company were positive for investors, but did not address the fundamental issue of internalising management, independent adviser KordaMentha said in a report today.

After gaining 10c yesterday, Port of Tauranga remained at 691, and also taking a breather was Restaurant Brands, flat at 255.

Dual-listed stocks made some strong gains, with AMP up 14c at 685, ANZ Bank up 39c at 3184, and APN up 5c at 261.

Australia's S&P/ASX-200 Index was up just 2 points at 4677.

Earlier in the United States, stocks slipped as investors took a break from a four-week rally, but they remained optimistic the advance would resume as a flurry of deals suggested companies were seeing value in the market.

- NZPA