Shares in online accounting software firm Xero rose nearly 4.5 percent in early trade after the company reported half year revenue of $3.7 million, up from $1.3m a year earlier, and said it had reached the turning point toward profitability.Xero shares we
Shares in online accounting software firm Xero rose nearly 4.5 percent in early trade after the company reported half year revenue of $3.7 million, up from $1.3m a year earlier, and said it had reached the turning point toward profitability.
Xero shares were up 8c to a new high 190, while the wider New Zealand sharemarket was broadly flat. The benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.89 points to 3331.59 around 10.15am, having ended up 11.7 points yesterday.
Shares in technology firm Rakon gained 2c to 130 after it reported a half year net profit of $5.6m, turning around a loss from a year earlier, and saying it had achieved good recovery and growth across all its segments.
The Warehouse gained 4c to 386, OceanaGold was up 12c to 480, Sky TV lifted 2c to 554, Restaurant Brands added 2c to 272, Methven was up 2c to 188, Infratil added 2c to 187, and Hallenstein Glasson lifted 2c to 450.
Fletcher Building fell 3c to 809, Telecom lost 2c to 216, and Michael Hill fell 2c to 78.
In the United States, stocks closed with small gains, paring early losses as investors weighed ongoing concerns about European sovereign debt and an encouraging drop in US jobless claims.
As the US dollar's recent rise slowed, trade in the final hours was boosted, especially for shares of large exporting multinational companies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 percent to 11,357.04, weighed down by a 3.2 per cent drop in Boeing's shares after the aerospace giant halted test flight of its new 787 Dreamliner. The S&P 500 index rose 0.4 percent to 1218.71, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 0.6 percent at 2578.78.
