Hallenstein Glasson shares continued to rise in early trading on a generally flat New Zealand sharemarket.On top of the 12c rise yesterday, shares in retailer Hallenstein Glasson rose 5c to 429 after the company reported full year earnings before tax on n
Hallenstein Glasson shares continued to rise in early trading on a generally flat New Zealand sharemarket.
On top of the 12c rise yesterday, shares in retailer Hallenstein Glasson rose 5c to 429 after the company reported full year earnings before tax on normal business activity rose nearly 60 percent to $29.2 million, boosted by an improved buying regime and the stronger New Zealand dollar.
About 10.25am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 3.48 points to 3235.66.
Among the leaders Contact Energy fell 5c to 576, Telecom remained unchanged at 204 and Fletcher Building fell 3c to 850. Sanford rose 5c to 405 and the New Zealand Refining Company was up 2c to 362. Hellaby Holdings fell 2c to 200.
After gaining 10c yesterday, Port of Tauranga remained at 691, Freightways rose 1c to 298, and Mainfreight was unchanged at 715.
In the United States, stocks slipped as investors took a break from a four-week rally, but they remained optimistic the advance would resume as a flurry of deals suggested companies were seeing value in the market.
Several business deal announcements lifted sentiment.
Consumer goods group Unilever Plc plans to buy US hair care group Alberto Culver Co for $US3.7 billion.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.44 percent at 10,812.04, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index was down 0.57 percent at 1142.16, the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.48 percent at 2369.77.
