Light turnover leaves market little changed

Dec 2 - Close

The New Zealand sharemarket gave up modest gains early in the day to close little changed and turnover was light.

That said, in the context of sharp losses last week on worries about debt levels in Dubai, the market has again shown resilience.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 2.846 points, or 0.09 percent, at 3149.446. Turnover was worth $77.3 million. There were 51 rises and 34 falls among the 117 stocks traded.

"It is just quiet," said Stephen Wright at ASB Securities. Many stocks in the top 50 were up or down a cent for no particular reason.

A standout was Kathmandu, which fell 10c, or 4.65 percent, to 205. This is below the 213 price the share were sold to the public at before the outdoor good retailer listed last month. Brokers said trading here reflected trading in Australia where the company is also listed.

Fletcher Building rose 1c to 790 and Telecom fell 1c to 246. Auckland Airport rose 1c to 186 and SkyTV fell 1c to 467.

The Warehouse fell 10c to 408 on a day in which retail staff voted in favour of industrial action.

Air NZ fell 5c to 120. Fisher & Paykel Appliances fell 2c to 58 and TrustPower fell 3c to 727.

Contact rose 4c to 594.

Delegats rose 6c to 251 after emphasising the success of its strategy in a challenging industry at its annual meeting today.

Restaurant Brands was unchanged at 162 after rising to a four year high yesterday after the company revised up its profit forecast.

Dual-listed Westpac was up 56c to 3126, ANZ lifted 97c to 2897, and AMP was up 23c to 2897.

The NZ dollar consolidated in a narrow range today, providing little lead for equity markets.

In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average rose to its highest close in 14 months, as a weak US dollar boosted natural resource companies' shares and housing data reassured investors about economic recovery.

The Dow Jones gained 1.2 percent to end at 10,471.58, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.2 percent to finish at 1108.86, and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.5 percent, to close at 2175.81.

- NZPA