The New Zealand sharemarket continued to reflect a patchy economy, ending today mixed on light volume. The Warehouse finished down 6c at $3.86, having risen to $4.02 after reporting a 17% rise in half-year net profit to $57.4 million. The retailer describ
The New Zealand sharemarket continued to reflect a patchy economy, ending today mixed on light volume.
The Warehouse finished down 6c at $3.86, having risen to $4.02 after reporting a 17% rise in half-year net profit to $57.4 million.
The retailer described the recovery in overall retail spending as patchy. Economists said retail sales data for January from Statistics New Zealand was soft and reflective of a sluggish rebound in the economy.
"It was a solid enough result," said Adrian Vance at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "I think a fair bit of it is to do with the overall market. There has been very little follow through on a lot of companies once they have reported."
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 1.69 points at 3225.14, up 10.5 points from 3214.64 last Friday.
Turnover was worth $84.5 million. There were 39 rises and 41 falls among the 116 stocks traded.
Briscoe Group fell 2c to $1.35, while Pumpkin Patch rose 3c to $2.18. Michael Hill fell 1c to 73c.
Among the leaders, Contact Energy fell 5c to $6.08, Telecom fell 1c to $2.23 and Fletcher Building rose 4c to $8.15.
Pyne Gould Corp rose 1c to 48c after its finance unit Marac was accepted to the extension of the government's retail deposit guarantee scheme.
Trading in Strategic Finance preference shares was halted after the finance company was placed in receivership by its trustee.
Nuplex rose 3c to $3.33, TrustPower rose 4c to $7.19 and Auckland Airport 3c to $1.97. Sanford fell 4c to $4.70, Rakon fell 3c to $1.00 and SkyCity fell 3c to $3.20.
Wellington Drive Technologies fell 0.5c to 8c, Rubicon fell 5c to 95c and Pacific Edge Biotechnology fell 3c to 20c.
Comvita rose 10c to $2.00 and Wakefield Heath, which is expanding into the Bay of Plenty, rose 24c to $7.24.
