Sky City a standout in flat NZ sharemarket

Photo / NZH

Casino operator Sky City had a strong day in an otherwise lacklustre New Zealand sharemarket as investors awaited macro economic events and Telecom's first quarter result this week.

Sky City shares closed up 7c at 309 and traded as high as 310. The stock rose 12c on Friday after the casino operator said first quarter revenue was 3.3 per cent up on a year ago and net profit was up 3.7 per cent.

"The highlight is Sky City following an upbeat annual meeting last week. It is the highest since May," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 5.162 points, or 0.156 per cent, at 3299.728. Markets in Asia were generally firm even though the US market did not provide much of a lead on Friday.

"It's a massive week for nearly all markets and asset classes; Federal Reserve open market committee outcome, mid-term US elections, US earnings season and nonfarm payrolls data. We can't think of a bigger week," said Ben Potter at IG Markets.

"At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the key question that needs to be answered is how the expected quantitative programme affects the US dollar," he said.

Contact Energy rose 6c to 591 after winning draft approval for its 250 Megawatt Tauhara geothermal power station project. But it remained below its 4-1/2-month intraday high of 595 reached on Friday.

Ebos continued a run higher, rising 15c to 750, but it was on thin volume.

Property for Industry was unchanged at 116, though traded as high as 118, on a day it released its nine month result.

Port of Tauranga lifted 4c to 749, and Restaurant Brands, another recent strong performer, rose 3c to 280.

Telecom was unchanged on 205 ahead of its first quarter result on Friday. Nuplex was unchanged at 339 ahead of its annual meeting on Wednesday.

Fletcher Building fell 8c to 813. Sanford, an exporter, fell 5c to 455 and Pike River Coal fell 1c to 103. Tower eased 1c to 186 and Infratil fell 1c to 182.

Michael Hill eased a cent to 80 on a day Gemtime Jeweller said it was merging with Showcase Jewellers and plans to open more stores in New Zealand.

Guinness Peat Group (GPG) was unchanged on 72 on a day it was revealed in Australia that Thai-based Mitr Phol is buying most of GPG's stake in Maryborough Sugar.

In the United States, stocks ended on a flat note on Friday (local time), wrapping up another strong month driven by expectations the Federal Reserve will flood the economy with cash this week.

Investors kept trading to a minimum this week in anticipation of the Fed's quantitative easing announcement. Activity the last several weeks has been heavily influenced by hopes for a large round of asset buying.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.04 per cent to 11,118.49, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 0.04 per cent to 1183.26, and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up just 0.04 point to 2507.41.

For the week, the Dow dipped 0.1 per cent, while the S&P 500 edged up only 0.02 per cent and the Nasdaq added 1.1 per cent.

- NZPA