Market slips as buyers wait for new listings

The New Zealand sharemarket slipped just a little today as buyers were happy to wait for new listings, further news of which is seen as imminent.

Fletcher Building shares fell 6c to 790 at a time of caution about building companies while the strength of economic recovery remains uncertain.

In the United States, Home Depot forecast weak results.

Allied Farmers shares rose 2c to 35 on thin volume of 18,839 shares after the company announced it was buying the assets of Hanover Finance and Hanover subsidiary United Finance.

It was well signalled to the market that they had a level of interest, said Peter Sigley, dealer at Goldman Sachs JBWere.

Investors see the deal as high-risk and dilutive for shareholders of Allied Farmers.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 3.113 points, or 0.099 per cent, at 3128.402, after a 42.5-point drop yesterday.

Turnover was worth $89.59 million. There were 29 rises and 48 falls among the 116 stocks traded.

Retailers were under a little bit of pressure on the belief that they were discounting, and on uncertainty about the Christmas trading period.

The Warehouse fell 6c to 408, Michael Hill fell 1c to 63 and Hallenstein Glassons was unchanged at 312.

Buyers were waiting for initial public offers to come to the market with property company DNZ expected to unveil a large sale on Thursday.

"Fund managers are very much focused on this whack of IPOs coming out and how they are going to fund them, which puts a bit of weight on the market," said Mr Sigley.

New listing Kathmandu fell 7c to 214, just above its offer price today.

Contact Energy lost 4c to 590.

SkyCity rose 8c to 342, Telecom rose 4c to 256 and Steel & Tube 4c to 294. Mainfreight rose 5c to 565 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 3c to 305.

SmartPay was unchanged at 45 on good volume after paying the final instalment on its acquisition of ProvencoCadmus assets.

Charlie's rose 0.4 to 8 on good volume and Comvita rose 9c to 148.

US stocks rose to fresh 13-month highs on Tuesday . The three major US stock indexes initially started lower and then spent the bulk of the session near break-even until the last half-hour of trading, when gains in the technology and energy sectors helped spur some upward momentum.

The underlying tone was negative as investors fretted about the strength of the recovery and the recent rally, and more stocks fell than rose.

"The news from retailers wasn't particularly good," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at NorthStar Investment Management Corp in Chicago.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 30.46 points, or 0.29 per cent, to close at 10,437.42. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged up 1.02 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 1110.32.

The Nasdaq Composite Index added 5.93 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 2203.78.

- NZPA