KEY POINTS:
New Zealand shares ended flat today, with little news to provide a firm steer and Telecom closing unchanged.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index fell 0.2 points to 4275.81, on turnover of $160.6 million.
"It's been a pretty modest performance against a reasonable backdrop. There just seems to be selected participation at the moment," Campbell Stuart of UBS said.
Telecom shareholders helped send the sharemarket up 0.8 per cent yesterday, in an apparent relief rally at a government recommitment to split the company into three units. Today, the shares rose another 5c before closing flat at 444.
"I think there's been towards the end of the quarter a few MSCI flows, which have seen some potential upweighting in Telecom, so maybe that explains some of it," Mr Stuart said.
International trading is guided by index compilers such as MSCI, which has about US$3 trillion ($4 trillion) in assets linked to its indexes which measure market performance in countries around the world.
However, overall volumes were thin aside from in-play stocks. Sky City, which yesterday was indirectly rapped on the knuckles by NZX for the way it revealed a possible takeover bid, eased a cent to 505 on 6.1 million shares.
Auckland Airport, which is being courted by at least one party, lost a cent to 316 on 4.3 million shares.
Air New Zealand rallied 9c to 242 as institutional investors seized potential arbitrage opportunities surrounding a shareholder vote to approve its $4.5 billion aircraft purchase. It rose 6c yesterday, and hit a high today of 245.
No 2 stock Fletcher Building was up 1c at 1286, following yesterday's 34c rise. Brokers speculate Fletcher is considering selling some of its property portfolio, which might mean a capital return for shareholders.
No 3 Contact Energy was down 5 at 934, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 3c to 334, F&P Appliances was a cent lower at 357, and Sky TV rose 9c to 560.
The Warehouse fell 14c to 550, Michael Hill lost 13c to 1125, Pumpkin Patch rose 2c to 320, and Hallenstein Glasson fell 4c to 446.
Fish exporter Sanford fell 20c to 430, investment company Hellaby lost 15c to 285, and dual-listed brewer Lion Nathan fell 10c to 1065.
Skellerup rose 6c to 105 after forecasting a rebound in profit yesterday, Nuplex was up 10c at 726, Rakon was up 4c at 479, and NZX was up 10c at 970.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.9 per cent at 6538 after hitting a record high earlier, while Japanese stocks advanced around 2 per cent.
Earlier on Wall Street, US stocks rose as a labour agreement at General Motors promised to lower costs for Detroit's automakers, while a report that Bear Stearns may sell a stake to outside investors boosted brokerage stocks.
- NZPA