NZ sharemarket closes on quiet note, dips 5 points

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand sharemarket closed on a quiet note despite Fletcher Building reporting promising half year results.

Shares in New Zealand's biggest construction company fell 4c in early trading, after reporting a 8 per cent rise in half year net profit, but made a modest comeback later in the day, rising 2c to 823.

Fletcher Building said total sales for the six months to the end of December were 2.2 per cent higher than a year earlier as a result of increased volumes in many of the company's Australian businesses.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 5.61 points to 3384.48, after gaining 6 points yesterday.

Sky City, which said it lifted its half year normalised net profit 2.1 per cent, fell 4c to 329.

The casino and hotel operator, which reported a flattish half year, is pushing hard to establish itself as Auckland's entertainment hub, with capital spending of $50 million on the facilities this financial year.

The sharemarket fell in early trading as miner OceanaGold gave up some of the gain of almost 10 per cent it made yesterday.

OceanaGold shares fell 8c to 367 having risen 33c yesterday after reporting an increase in its South Island reserves.

Restaurant Brands NZ, the fast food franchise operator, fell 7c to 245, Skellerup was down 1c to 125, and NZ Refining Co fell 8c to 510.

Steel & Tube Holdings added 3c to 250 after last week reporting an improved half year net profit of $8.4 million. Vector added 1c to 250 on the day it announced it was appealing Commerce Commission decisions over input methodologies for the electricity distribution sector.

Kathmandu Holdings fell 1c to 212, Telecom eased 1c to 223, Contact Energy fell 2c to 620 and Sanford, the fisheries company, added 5c, or just over 1 per cent, to 500.

Nuplex added 2c to 370, Sky TV added 3c to 540, Manfreight gained 7c to 812 and Trustpower was unchanged at 720.

In the United States, stocks closed lower after a surprisingly weak retail sales report.

The Commerce Department said US retail sales rose just 0.3 per cent in January, the smallest increase since June and half of what economists had predicted.

According to preliminary figures, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3 per cent to 12,226, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 0.3 per cent to 1328, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.4 per cent to 2804.

- NZPA