NZ sharemarket ends little changed

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading and stayed that way all day as the market paused from a run higher.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 0.48 points at 3450.36, after opening up 1.85 points.

"This is a period of consolidation after a pretty good recovery following the Japanese crisis," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

"We are now flat waiting for the next catalyst for movement."

Restaurant Brands closed up 8c at 245 and traded as high as 248 after reporting a 26% rise in annual profit, mostly due to a strong performance by KFC.

"Their result was extremely good. Trading conditions were pretty difficult but they do seem to have KFC working nicely for them," Mr Williamson said.

However, investors were starting to question where future growth would come from.

Telecom eased 0.5c to 200.5 after falling 5c yesterday on heavy selling. At a telecommunications summit in Auckland yesterday, Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds said new investment in the industry was drying up worldwide, with returns in telecommunications difficult to come by.

Ryman Healthcare lifted 3c to 242 after saying it would lift the building rate of its new retirement village in Tauranga.

A surge in the NZ dollar above 78USc hurt some currency sensitive stocks but the NZ dollar retreated somewhat today.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare eased 2c to 311 and Rakon eased 1c to 109 but Sanford rose 23c to 553.

Tower fell 7c to 181 on a day the government moved to put support structures in place for AMI Insurance. Tower says it is interested in buying AMI.

Pyne Gould Corp eased a cent to 25, Vector eased 6c to 256 and PGG Wrightson eased 1c to 52.

Auckland Airport eased 1.5c to 217.5 and Air NZ was unchanged at 112.

OceanaGold rose 21c to 400 and NZ Refining rose 10c to 245. Mainfreight rose 10c to 920. Guinness Peat Group rose 0.5c to 80. The Warehouse rose 2c to 345 and TrustPower rose 4c to 725.