Smaller stocks take a knock on down day

Photo / Richard Robinson

The New Zealand sharemarket eased yesterday as several smaller stocks slumped.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 4.42 points at 3257.94, having gained 6.5 points on Monday.

Pike River Coal lost 13c to a one-month low of $1.05 after the company said a delay in constructing an underground road would significantly lower its mine's production forecast for the current financial year.

But it was confident of eventually reaching full production.

Key shareholder NZ Oil and Gas was down 5c at $1.28.

Also taking a hit was Tourism Holdings, which closed down 11c, or 12.5 per cent, at 77c after releasing a trading outlook update on Monday which said it was expecting a first half net loss of up to $1 million.

On the rise was Charlie's Group, which soared 45 per cent, or 5c, to a two-year high of 16c after news of a multi-million dollar deal for its drinks to be stocked at 750 Coles supermarkets across Australia. Shares in PGG Wrightson closed down 3c at 56c. Shortly after the market opened the company announced the resignation of managing director Tim Miles, effective immediately.

Among blue chips, Contact Energy was up 4c at $5.74, Fletcher Building lost 8c to $8.20, Auckland International Airport was up a cent at $2.09, Telecom lost a cent to $2.06, and casino company SkyCity rose 4c to $2.96. Hallenstein Glasson gained 6c to $4.46, while another retailer, The Warehouse, fell 1c to $3.93 and Pumpkin Patch was down 3c at $1.96.

Gas and telecommunications network company Vector was down 4c at $2.28, Sky TV lost 5c to $5.20, and Kathmandu fell 5c to $1.90.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.2 per cent at 4661.

In the United States, upbeat news for banks and homebuilders pushed the market higher.

Better-than-expected results from Citigroup drove financial stocks up by more than 2 per cent.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.73 per cent. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.72 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index added or 0.48 per cent.

- NZPA