Sharemarket falls on eve of big day for company results

Fletcher Building fell 1.4 per cent to $6.86. The company is due to report its half-year result tomorrow.

New Zealand shares fell in light trading ahead of a busy day of earnings tomorrow, with Heartland Bank and Fletcher Building dropping while Sky Network Television and Air New Zealand rose.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index dropped 16.98 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8,098.27. Within the index, 21 stocks fell, 18 rose and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $84.4 million.

"The volumes are appallingly light, if you look at a lot of stocks the volume is just tiny," said David Price, broker at Forsyth Barr.

"On balance, we have seen a bit of slowdown, the market has reached a level where it needs direction - whether that's from the reporting season or from offshore," he said.

"We've had a couple of little confessions so far - Fletcher Building, Evolve out yesterday, but tomorrow is when we start to get the chunky stuff," Price said.

"It really needs a result season with good solid results and strong outlook to push it forward, otherwise it will sit in a holding pattern for a while longer."

Companies set to report tomorrow include A2 Milk Co, Fletcher Building, Spark New Zealand, Meridian Energy and Ebos Group.

Today, A2 gained 0.1 per cent to $9.29; Fletcher fell 1.4 per cent to $6.86, Spark dropped 0.7 per cent to $3.455; Meridian declined 0.2 per cent to $2.845; and Ebos dipped 0.4 per cent to $17.15. Evolve fell 9.8 per cent to 55c.

Heartland Bank led the index lower today, down 2.1 per cent to $1.90. It boosted first-half profit 7 per cent to $31.1m as an expanding loan book underpinned all lines of business and strong reverse mortgage growth in Australia whetted its appetite to do more business across the Tasman.

Sky Network Television was the best performer, rising 2.6 per cent to $2.80, with Air New Zealand gaining 1.4 per cent to $2.98.

Outside the benchmark index, Veritas Investments fell 10 per cent to 4.5c. ANZ Bank New Zealand has extended its debt deadline for the third time as Veritas seeks shareholder approval to sell the Mad Butcher master franchisor business and continue discussions on other asset sales.

Vista Group International dropped 2.3 per cent to $2.60. It has bought back 7.9 per cent of its Chinese entity for $7.7m, leaving it with 47.5 per cent of the business and allowing it to treat the division as a controlled entity within the group.

Promisia Integrative slumped 44 per cent to 1c. Medsafe warned its Arthrem product could cause potential liver damage, though the company said the number of reported cases is "extremely small" and it stands by its product.