A strong day on Wall St and across the Tasman failed to set the sharemarket alight, with leading stocks on the wane.
On Wall St, the Dow Jones index set another record high after unexpected growth in manufacturing. Australian stocks were also up as steady interest rates helped
banks.
But locally, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 0.1 per cent or 4.6 points to 4186.98 on turnover worth $131 million.
Some $75 million of the volume was in Telecom, which weakened 3c to $4.87 as investors anticipated a flat first quarter result and possible capital return today.
Contact Energy, meanwhile, fell 14c to $8.84 on higher-than-usual volume as shareholders digested the news that wholesale power prices were less than half what they were last year.
However, Forsyth Barr analyst Greg Main said the higher lake levels were already known in the market and analysts were more interested in the company's hedge book and carbon trading future.
Fletcher Building was stuck in its normal trading range, sinking to a low of $11.14 before recovering to $11.30, up 5c. The star performer was Dominion Finance, whose shares rose 20c or nearly 10 per cent to a year high of $2.30 after reporting that its net year profit had doubled as a result of acquisition.
Other positive stories included Hellaby Holdings, up 6c to $4.16 after news it was thinking about selling its retail shoe operations.
Currency-sensitive stocks Sanford and F&P Healthcare were up 15c to $4.65 and 1c to $3.83 respectively.
NZ Refining built on Tuesday's 15c rise with another 20c to $7.02 after figures showed strong margins despite a lower throughput in March.
But NZ Oil & Gas dropped 2c to 94c as investors appeared to lose patience with the start date of production at its Pike River coalmine.
Takeover target Tourism Holdings shed a cent to $2.71.
- NZPA
