NZ shares drift lower in mixed trade

The New Zealand sharemarket ended moderately lower after opening slightly firmer on a day in which global markets fearful of the Irish debt crisis stabilised.

Against that cloudy outlook New Zealand logistics company Mainfreight reported a 51.7 per cent rise in interim profit and said weekly trading results during October and November were "raising our expectations for a strong third quarter".

The company said it was satisfied with the results, though it was below expectations in some markets. Its share price, which has risen from 585 in May, fell 10c to 730 today.

While shares in Ryman Healthcare closed unchanged today after the retirement village operator reported a $36m realised profit for the first half year - a new record for the company.

Ryman said the 25 per cent increase in profit was due to apartment demand and expansion. The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 8.846 points, or 0.269 per cent, at 3280.46.

IG Markets said it was very encouraging to see the lack of follow-through selling on Wall Street overnight.

"This potentially indicates that the bears aren't in full control of the market," IG Markets said.

Telecom rose 3c to 214. Investors continue to wait for news of the Government's various broadband initiatives. National Business Review reported today that a group calling itself the Torotoro Waea Partnership put in a bid for the government's rural broadband initiative.

Tourism Holdings fell 6c, to 8 per cent, to 69 after telling shareholders at the annual meeting that the NZ dollar was continuing to be affected by the high New Zealand dollar.

Fletcher Building fell 3c to 798 on a day in which Finance Minister Bill English signalled that growth forecasts will be lower than expected in the Government's half-year economic and fiscal update due to the released next month.

Freightways fell 8c to 290.

Allied Farmers' shares traded at 1.9c each as the company lost control of its Matarangi Beach Estates property to receivers.

Contact Energy eased 1c to 590, Michael Hill rose 1c to 80 and Tower rose 1x to 188.

Hallenstein Glassons rose 5c to 450 and Sanford rose 5c to 475.

Auckland Airport fell 1c to 211 and Freightways fell 3c to 295.

Scott Technology rose 6c to 140 and Sealegs rose 2c to 22.

In the United States, the Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq indexes were modestly higher, led by gains among retailers after a bullish outlook from Target, but Europe's debt crisis kept investors cautious.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.03 points, or 0.00 per cent, at 11,023.47. The S&P 500 Index was up 2.48 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 1180.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 13.91 points, or 0.56 per cent, at 2483.75.

- NZPA