KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket drifted up in a quiet end to the short week ahead of tomorrow's Anzac Day holiday.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 0.2 per cent, or 8.3 points, at 3616.8, having risen 25 points yesterday. The index was about 10 points above its low for the
day, on light volume totalling $90.9 million.
"The market started off weaker and got better thanks to Fletcher (Building) and Contact, but the rest of the market seems mighty quiet," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities.
Fletcher Building was up 24c at 877 and second-ranked Contact Energy gained 15c to 930, while top stock Telecom was down 8c at 378.
The Reserve Bank left interest rates at 8.25 per cent today, but opened the door to rate cuts earlier than expected due to a faster than expected slowdown in the economy.
"... Fletcher Building's been marked down because of talk of a big slowdown in the economy or recession, and once interest rates start to fall it will be a beneficiary of that," Mr Wright said.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 7c at 275, F&P Appliances lost 4c to 248, Sky City was up 2c at 390, Sky TV fell a cent to 460, and Infratil rose 3c to 233.
Exchange operator NZX gained 16c to 822 after posting a 25 per cent rise in first quarter net profit, despite poor market performances this year.
"A lot of their money is made on data sales, selling data to Bloomberg and IRESS and that's all going to hold up pretty well. Obviously the bit they're reliant on, market trades, that's obviously slowed down."
Air New Zealand was up a cent at 120, having fallen 10c to a year-low yesterday after downgrading its outlook due to high jet fuel prices.
"Their yields are high but of course their exposure to oil and the aviation fuel prices (are) obviously a drag on it, but that took its big hit yesterday and just some slight recovery there today," Mr Wright said.
Property stocks rose, with ING Medical Properties up 3c at 118, Kiwi Income Property Trust up 2c at 127, and Goodman Property up a cent at 136.
Rakon rose 10c to 318, Sanford was up 5c at 425, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay gained 10c to 156, and Freightways rose 1c to 336.
The Warehouse lost 10c to 570, Steel & Tube fell 11c to 325, NZ Oil and Gas was down 4c at 158, and Hellaby Holdings fell 4c to 185.
Westpac jumped 100 to 3000, ANZ was up 4c at 2613, Lion Nathan fell 20c to 1020, and AMP was off 34c at 946.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 1 per cent at 5592, while Japan's Nikkei share average fell 0.3 per cent.
Earlier in the US, stocks rose as a range of technology companies posted results that showed the sector's resiliency in the face of an economic slowdown.
- NZPA
