The New Zealand sharemarket traded lower for most of the day before ending flat, while other markets retreated.Strength in Telecom countered weakness in financial stocks. Dual-listed banks fell, with ANZ down 77c to 2840 and Westpac losing 106c to 2820, a
The New Zealand sharemarket traded lower for most of the day before ending flat, while other markets retreated.
Strength in Telecom countered weakness in financial stocks. Dual-listed banks fell, with ANZ down 77c to 2840 and Westpac losing 106c to 2820, after a downgrade of French bank BNP Paribas by Fitch Ratings hit Europe's banking stocks overnight.
"There's some noise doing the rounds on the street that overseas institutions are selling Australian banks on concerns over a potential housing market bubble," said Ben Potter of IG Markets. "There's solid arguments both ways for the local housing market."
Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the fall in bank stocks reflected trading in the Australian market and volume here was small.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 0.095 points at 3054.298. Turnover was worth $66.4 million. There were 20 rises and 40 falls among the 100 stocks traded.
"We held quite well after a bit of a sell off in New York last night and with Australian market down," Mr Williamson said.
Telecom rose 5c to 195. Mr Williamson attributed the rise to bargain hunting and recent news that Telstra would participate in Australia's broadband plans. Investors were hoping for something similar for Telecom in New Zealand.
Pyne Gold Corp fell 2c to 41. Mr Williamson said the South Canterbury Finance story was overhanging the whole market and rubbing off on PGC, which owns a finance company. South Canterbury Finance has listed debt securities.
Dorchester Pacific rose 0.6c to 8.6 and Allied Farmers fell 0.1c to 4.5.
Guinness Peat Group rose 3c to 64 amid speculation that Sir Ron Brierley's investment company will have to sweeten its demerger plan.
The Warehouse rose 2c to 352 after disclosing the size of its deferred tax liability resulting from tax changes in the budget. Auckland Airport eased 2c to 192 even though passenger numbers were up in its latest operational report.
Contact Energy lost 4c to 590, Fletcher Building was unchanged at 812, Fisher&Paykel Appliances dropped 2c to 56, Freightways rose 1c to 284, Hallenstein Glasson rose 2c to 355, and Nuplex was down 4c to 302.
Mainfreight eased 4c to 611 and Infratil eased a cent to 161. Sanford eased a cent to 406 and Port of Tauranga eased 9c to 675.
