KEY POINTS:
New Zealand shares trod water today with little in the way of news to provide direction, despite a rebound on Wall Street overnight.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index, which yesterday fell below 4000 for the first time since late August, was up 1.8 points at 4001.4. Turnover totalled $104 million.
"Today's been characterised by an absence of news, the bellwether stock Telecom being cancelled out by the next two, and not too many reads from overseas," said James Smalley of Hamilton Hindin Greene.
Telecom fell 8c to 436, while Fletcher Building rose 6c to 1116, and Contact Energy was up 15c at 834.
"I guess the news of the day was probably one of the shortest tenures as a listed CEO with Diligent," Mr Smalley said.
Brian Henry resigned as head of Diligent Board Member Services, which listed yesterday, because of non-disclosure of his and his brother's past.
Despite the IPO being several times oversubscribed, Diligent's shares closed today down 3.3 per cent at 87c against the 100c issue price.
Mr Henry said he erred by not disclosing his relationship with Energycorp, that failed in the 1980s, forcing him into bankruptcy.
"Certainly the perception is not great, but in the end it comes down to your fundamentals," Mr Smalley said.
Diligent is due to report about progress on licence sales next week.
Retail stocks had a mixed day after 0.7 per cent fall in October retail sales, which pushed the currency lower.
Hallenstein Glasson was up 19c at 389, recouping previous losses on sluggish sales. Pumpkin Patch fell 5c to 246, Briscoe Group was flat at 137, Postie Plus was up 2c at 75c, and The Warehouse lost 7c to 625.
On the top 10, Auckland Airport was up 4c at 280, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was flat at 330, F&P Appliances was down 2c at 334, Sky City fell 4c to 464, and Sky TV rose 7c to 570.
Port of Tauranga was up 5c at 678 after agreeing with Toll Rail to increase capacity at the Tauranga/MetroPort rail link after two consecutive record months for container throughput.
Air New Zealand rose 2c to 187, Mainfreight was flat at 695, and Freightways rose 3c to 370. NZX fell 6c to 899, Rakon was down 4c at 390, GuocoLeisure, formerly BIL International, was down 4c to 102.
Biotechnology company A2 Corporation was steady at 23c after announcing a narrower interim net loss of $1.63 million.
- NZPA