26 Nov 2010

NZ market drops

6:41 pm on 26 November 2010

The New Zealand sharemarket dipped slightly on Friday. By close of business, the NZX50 index fell less than half a point to 3264 on turnover of $43 million.

Fletcher Building rose 4 cents to $8.10, Telecom fell 4c at $2.15, and Contact Energy was down 1c at $5.87.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare dropped 6c at $2.89, Rakon rose 1c to $1.17, and Sky Network Television was up 2c to $5.30.

Fisher and Paykel Appliances is down, after it trimmed its earnings forecast, but returned to a half year profit.

Xero is up 10 cents to $2.10.

Pike River Coal is on a share trading halt. It last traded at 88c on Friday.

It's 29% owner, NZ Oil and Gas, rose 5c to 94c after saying secured creditors of Pike River Coal had agreed to a stand-still period of 90 days.

The Warehouse was unchanged at $3.73, after it told investors at its AGM that it expects trading conditions to remain tough in the short term.

Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 index is up 8 points to 4602.

In currency markets, the NZ dollar is at 75.98 US, 77.87 Australian, 48.25p, 63.60 Yen, 0.5702 euro. The Trade Weighted Index stands at 68.72.