KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket was flat today, marked by disappointing results from Rakon and Infratil.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index closed up 0.49 points to 4114.67 on moderate turnover worth nearly $62 million. Falls outnumbered rises 54 to 34 on 135 stocks traded.
Brokers said today's trading had been a mixed bag, with investors looking to Australia for direction, but failing to match the early 1.1 per cent rebound there.
"We just seem to be lagging today, just sort of running out of puff," Campbell Stuart of UBS said.
Leading stocks Telecom, Contact and Fletcher Building were all positive, with Telecom up 3c to 428 on mild volume.
Fletcher Building inched up 7c to 1173 and Contact rose 6c to 891 after announcing a new geothermal plant in Taupo.
Other stocks were not so buoyant.
Shares in Rakon, which makes quartz crystal componentry, tumbled 65c or 12 per cent to 450 after the company said foreign exchange conditions might make it difficult to achieve its target for full year ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation).
The company had predicted a range of $27 million to $32 million but disappointed investors today with a first half ebitda of $12.44m .
First NZ Capital analyst Phil Hunter said his firm had expected an ebitda of around $15.2m.
"The market's got them on report if you like so it's going to be probably an uphill battle for them to achieve that sum, given where the currency's travelling at the moment."
Rakon's first half net profit after tax rose 5 per cent to $5.74m on a 78 per cent increase in revenue to $89.91m.
Infrastructure investor Infratil fared better, falling only 3c to 290 despite reporting a 49 per cent fall in first half net profit to $12.5m.
The company blamed higher interest costs for the fall, and analysts said the company was still viewed as being a solid performer, and that today's result was no surprise because its different assets reported individually.
In play Auckland Airport was down 3c to 298 , while another takeover target Sky City was down 2c to 535. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up a cent to 329 on heavy trade and Sky TV was up 8c to 570 .
Profit-takers swooped on ANZ up 70c to 3320, while Goodman Group fell 20c to 230.
- NZPA