NZ stockmarket flat in early trading
The New Zealand sharemarket opened on a quiet note today, with stocks showing little movement.
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The New Zealand sharemarket opened on a quiet note today, with stocks showing little movement.
Political unrest in Egypt and major storms hitting Australia and the United States injected uncertainty in international markets, while in New Zealand a rise in the NZ dollar above US78c yesterday hurt some exporters.
Around 10.20am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was at 3354.683, retreating from yesterday's high of 3372.261.
Briscoe Group opened at 136 after today reporting sales for the 12 months to the end of January edged up from a year earlier, with a strong start to the December and Christmas trading period offsetting disappointing Boxing Day sales.
The company also said, excluding a one-off tax adjustment, it expected it would have been able to report a full year tax paid profit of more than $23 million, 10 percent up on a year earlier.
Telecom added 1c to 223 after advising its weighting in the S&P ASX 200 index will fall to around 25 percent to 30 percent of its current weighting due to changes in index methodology.
Insurance stocks in Australia remained under pressure amid worries about claims from Cyclone Yasi, while in New Zealand insurer Tower at its annual meeting yesterday was accused of being over-capitalised.
Tower shares fell 1c to 194 and Guinness Peat Group shares remained unchanged at 68.
Auckland Airport, which owns 24.55 percent of North Queensland Airports, the operator of Cairns and Mackay airports in which were buffeted by Cyclone Yasi, gained 1c to 225.
Air NZ, which cancelled one direct flight from Auckland to Cairns yesterday, rose 1c to 139.
Fletcher Building fell 2c to 788 after adding 12c yesterday, SkyCity remained at 336 and Mainfreight shares were unchanged at 840.
Hellaby Holdings fell 3c to 221 while the Warehouse gained 1c to 359.
Meanwhile, United States stocks seesawed between modest gains and losses with investors reluctant to make big bets on stocks even though data showed US private employers added more jobs than expected in January.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 2.16 points, or 0.02 percent, at 12,042.32. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was down 1.45 points, or 0.11 percent, at 1,306.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.45 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,755.64.
NZPA
Thu, 03 Feb 2011
Thu, 03 Feb 2011
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NZ stockmarket flat in early trading
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