KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket drifted up in a quiet end to the short week before today's Anzac Day holiday.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 0.2 per cent, or 8.34 points, at 3616.81, having risen 25 points on Wednesday. The index was about 10 points above its low for the day, on light volume totalling $90.9 million.
"The market started off weaker and got better thanks to Fletcher [Building] and Contact, but the rest of the market seems mighty quiet," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities.
Fletcher Building was up 24c at $8.77 and second-ranked Contact Energy gained 15c to $9.30, while top stock Telecom was down 8c at $3.78.
The Reserve Bank left interest rates at 8.25 per cent yesterday, but opened the door to rate cuts earlier than expected due to a faster than expected slowdown in the economy.
"Fletcher Building's been marked down because of talk of a big slowdown in the economy or recession, and once interest rates start to fall it will be a beneficiary of that," Wright said.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 7c at $2.75, F&P Appliances lost 4c to $2.48, SkyCity was up 2c at $3.90, Sky TV fell 1c to $4.60, and Infratil rose 3c to $2.33.
Exchange operator NZX gained 16c to $8.22 after posting a 25 per cent rise in first quarter net profit, despite poor market performances this year.
Air New Zealand was up 1c at $1.20, having fallen 10c to a year-low on Wednesday after downgrading its outlook due to high jet fuel prices.
Property stocks rose, with ING Medical Properties up 3c at $1.18, Kiwi Income Property Trust up 2c at $1.27, and Goodman Property up 1c at $1.36.
Rakon rose 10c to $3.18, Sanford was up 5c at $4.25, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay gained 10c to $1.56, and Freightways rose 1c to $3.36. The Warehouse lost 10c to $5.70, Steel & Tube fell 11c to $3.25, NZ Oil and Gas was down 4c at $1.58, and Hellaby Holdings fell 4c to $1.85.
Westpac jumped $1.00 to $30.00, ANZ was up 4c at $26.13, Lion Nathan fell 20c to $10.20, and AMP was off 34c at $9.46.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 1 per cent at 5592, while Japan's Nikkei share average fell 0.3 per cent.
- NZPA
