The New Zealand sharemarket finished the week on a down note, mostly due to profit-taking in leading shares.The downward move gained momentum as the session progressed and also reflected weakness in the Australian sharemarket.The benchmark NZSX-50 index c
The New Zealand sharemarket finished the week on a down note, mostly due to profit-taking in leading shares.
The downward move gained momentum as the session progressed and also reflected weakness in the Australian sharemarket.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 20.381 points, or 0.6%, at 3257.952, having opened down around 0.72 points.
Turnover was worth $70.3 million. There were 36 rises and 49 falls among the 112 stocks traded.
Contact Energy fell 14c to $6.18 and Fletcher Building fell 13c to $831, both having a sizeable impact on the index. Telecom gained 1c to $2.51.
"We were expecting the Australian market to open firmer today but it retreated somewhat. Profit-taking is the name of the game at the moment on both the New Zealand and Australian markets," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene. "Investors are just taking profits after a good Christmas and new year run."
There was little corporate news relating to listed companies today and the profit reporting season in February is awaited.
Strategic Finance flagged an interim loss due to increased provisions.
NZOG was unchanged at $1.62 after saying the first shipment of light crude will leave Port Taranaki next week.
Shares in the New Zealand Refining Co closed up 3c at $3.76 and traded as high as $3.87 as they continued to recover from a four-and-a-half-year low touched earlier this month.
The dual-listed banks reflected the weak Australian market with ANZ down 67c at $27.72 and Westpac down 49c at $31.46.
Australian-listed Spotless Group confirmed it will start trading on the New Zealand market on Monday after taking over Taylors Group but brokers do not expect much liquidity.
Cavalier fell 15c to $2.70 and SkyCity fell 2c to $3.32.
Port of Tauranga fell 4c to $7.10 and APN fell 3c to $2.95 on light volume.
Methven rose 10c to $1.79, Tourism Holdings rose 2c to $1.00, Pike River Coal rose 3c to $1.02 and Hellaby rose 3c to $1.68.
Fisher and Paykel Appliances was unchanged at 63c while F&P Healthcare rose 4c to $3.38.
Air NZ rose 1c to $1.18, after US-based airline industry magazine Air Transport World named the company as its airline of the year.
• On Wall Street, technology shares lifted the market as investors bet business spending will bolster profits in the sector.
The rise in technology is "an indication that investors see business spending, not consumer spending, fuelling further growth to bring us out of" recession, said Burt White, managing director and chief investment officer at LPL Financial in Boston.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% to 10,710.55, the S&P 500 Index rose 0.2% to 1148.46 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4% to 2316.74.
The market rose despite an unexpected drop in December US retail sales and an increase in new jobless claims last week that topped estimates.
"The market was able to shrug off the data because as long as news is bad, government stimulus will keep coming," said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at ChannelCapitalResearch.com in Shrewsbury, New Jersey.
