Little changed in NZ sharemarket

The New Zealand sharemarket was little changed today after a muted performance by the United States market, as investors continued to assess the strength of its economic recovery.

In New Zealand, an unexpectedly large rise in the unemployment rate to 6.8 per cent in the June quarter raised questions about the strength of the recovery here and led economists to call for a pause in the monetary policy tightening cycle begun in June.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 6.534 points, or 0.215 per cent, at 3044.668.

Telecom rose 1c to 202 after Standard and Poor's (S&P) reiterated the company's credit rating may be downgraded if it separated its network business.

Ebos rose 27c to 670 after announcing the sale of its scientific units and saying its annual result on August 26 would reflect another excellent trading year for the medical equipment supplier.

Fletcher Building fell 3c to 754. Steel & Tube rose 4c to 229, Rakon rose 4c to 110 and NZOG eased 1c at 121.

SkyCity rose 2c to 304 and Auckland Airport eased a cent to 198.

Contact Energy rose 3c to 569, Restaurant Brands rose 2c to 245, Tower rose 2c to 187, Infratil rose 1c to 163 and Cavalier Carpets 2c to 260.

Hallenstein Glasson fell 1c to 360, NZ Refining fell 8c to 300 and The Warehouse fell 2c to 352.

In the US, stocks rose in thin trade on Wednesday as retailers' earnings and a report showing a slight improvement in private employment boosted optimism ahead of Friday's payrolls report.

Priceline.com Inc soared 22 per cent to $281.30 on its stronger-than-expected quarterly results and outlook.

While media conglomerate News Corp reported fourth-quarter profits that beat analyst expectations, reversing a loss from a year ago, as restructuring charges fell and it sold a Bulgarian TV station.

Data from the Institute for Supply Management showed the services sector grew at a faster pace than expected in July and Friday's government report on jobs (Saturday NZT) was expected to show a drop of 65,000 in July as Census jobs dried up.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 44.05 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 10,680.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 6.78 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 1127.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 20.05 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 2303.57.

With 80 per cent of the S&P 500 companies having reported quarterly results, estimated and reported earnings growth stands at 37.3 per cent for the previous quarter, up from an estimate of 27.4 per cent a month ago, according to Thomson Reuter Proprietary Research.

- NZPA