In early trading Fletcher Building shares reversed almost all the 10c lost yesterday after the company signalled a hostile takeover bid for Australian company Crane Group.Within the first few minutes of trading today, Fletcher Building shares were up 8c t
In early trading Fletcher Building shares reversed almost all the 10c lost yesterday after the company signalled a hostile takeover bid for Australian company Crane Group.
Within the first few minutes of trading today, Fletcher Building shares were up 8c to 783, with investors appearing to look more favourably on the bid, which values Crane at $A740 million ($NZ982 million).
Also doing well early was NZ Refining Co, up to its highest level in more than eight months with a 9c early gain to 410, on top of a 10c gain yesterday.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 2.79 points to 3295.14, having gained 9 points yesterday.
Skellerup, which gained 1c yesterday after lifting its profit forecast, was up 5c to 110, Tourism Holdings gained 2c to 79, and Xero lifted 2c to 237 to be equal with the high reached yesterday.
The Warehouse was down 6c early to 355, Mainfreight lost 4c to 766, Contact Energy dropped 3c to 617, and Nuplex lost 3c to 349.
In the United States, stocks ended lower with a third late-day sell-off in a row, suggesting it may be difficult to chalk further gains as the year comes to a close.
Based on preliminary data, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.2 percent to end unofficially at 11,457.47, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index fell 0.5 percent to 1235.24, and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.4 percent to 2617.22.
