KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket snoozed today as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach to last week's market volatility.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index edged down 9.7 points or 0.2 per cent to 3406.29 on light volume worth $50 million. Falls outnumbered rises 48 to 39 .
"A very quiet day on the
bourse," ABN Amro Craigs equities adviser Nigel Scott noted.
After the big market swings of last week, " investors are a little bit punch-drunk".
Mr Scott said concerns across the Tasman about Babcock and Brown - a major energy and windpower investor which holds New Zealand assets - had particularly shaken Australian investors.
Here, investors were still awaiting news about The Warehouse and Mr Scott felt the market would probably stay in a holding pattern until there was more clarity on interest rates, resource prices and any more corporate plays.
Today electricity lines company Vector slipped a cent after a widely expected shareholder vote in favour of selling its Wellington electricity network.
Contact Energy fell 13c to 832 but it was a quiet day for Fletcher Building, down just 2c to 670 after touching a year low of 667 on Friday.
The building materials firm is far from its year high of 1310 but other building stocks around the world also had virtually halved on pessimistic building figures, Mr Scott said.
Top stock Telecom rose a cent to 379, while Sky City fell 5c to 332 after a recent rally to above $4.
"Stocks aren't necessarily returning to former levels, if anything there are more questions than answers over the equity market at the moment," Mr Scott said.
Transport company Freightways fell 16c to 310 on thin trading, but Mainfreight rose 5c to 715. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare dropped 7c to 233 and F&P Appliances gained 2c to 212.
Smaller stock Methven put on 4c to 174, Air NZ rose 2c to 112, Infratil fell 5c to 213, and PGG Wrightson fell 12c to 263 although its Uruguayan offshoot NZ Farming System rose 3c to 186.
Dual-listed stock Telstra rose 13c to 577, while Westpac gained 15c to 2700 and ANZ put on 47c to 2458. Australian stocks were down most of the day, making a late turn to rise 0.4 per cent.
Asian stocks rallied as the US dollar rebounded and oil fell below US$134 a barrel, boosting confidence in the region's exporters.
Over the weekend, US stocks closed higher , helped by a government report on consumer price data eased fears that inflation would force a near-term rise in interest rates.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 165.77 points, or 1.37 per cent, at 12,307.35. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 20.16 points, or 1.50 per cent, at 1,360.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 50.15 points, or 2.09 per cent, at 2,454.50.
- NZPA