The New Zealand sharemarket started the week flat on light volume but annual meetings and trading updates provided interest in selected stocks.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 0.65 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 3112.98. Turnover was worth $52 million. There were 51 rises and 39 falls among the 120 stocks traded.
Ross Cuthbert, investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said it was a low volume day but this was not unique to New Zealand.
Telecom fell 8c to $2.48, but much of the move was due to it trading ex a 6c a share dividend yesterday.
Fletcher Building rose 4c to $7.71 on a day in which James Hardie Industries jumped more than 7 per cent on the Australian market after saying the US housing market appears to be nearing bottom.
Ryman Healthcare eased a cent to $1.95 after reporting a 12.2 per cent rise in interim profit.
NZOG rose 1c to $1.70 after saying a drilling rig was expected to reach the Albacore exploration area in the Taranaki Basin today.
Pike River Coal eased 1c to 99c after updating shareholders at its annual meeting in Westport.
Shares in retailer Postie Plus Group, which said first quarter sales were up 15 per cent from a year earlier, rose 1c to 40c.
Hallenstein Glasson rose 7c to $3.20 but The Warehouse fell 3c to $4.05 and Hellaby rose 4c to $1.60.
Tower rose 5c to $1.80 and AMP rose 8c to $8.05.
Cavalier rose 4c to $2.34. Contact rose 4c to $5.95 and Trust Power was unchanged at $7.45. NZ Refining rose 12c to $5.14 and Infratil was unchanged at $1.50.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 2c to $3.21 and the appliances stock was unchanged at 63.
Kathmandu, which entered the top 50 index yesterday, fell 2c to $2.15.
SkyCity eased 6c to $3.31, NZX 3c to $7.88, Auckland Airport 1c to $1.85 and Restaurant Brands 1c to $1.48.
In the US, stocks fell for a third straight day on Saturday as investors took weaker-than-expected results from computer maker Dell and homebuilder DR Horton as a sign economic recovery would be anaemic.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.1 per cent to 10,318.16, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.3 per cent to 1091.38, and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.5 per cent to 2146.04.
- NZPA
Telecom and SkyCity drop in slow start to week
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