NZX slips 0.1%, Infratil retreats

The New Zealand sharemarket meandered to a small loss yesterday with no direction from a holidaying Wall Street.

The benchmark S&P/NZX50 Index closed down 0.1% at 11,599 after the market closed little changed on Monday.

Grant Williamson, investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the index was flat, with Wall Street closed overnight as the United States marked

Labour Day. ‘‘Following the financial reporting season, the market has been relatively lacklustre.’’

Infratil closed down 0.3% at $9.51 but had hit a fresh high during the session of $9.65. It had $23 million worth of shares traded.

It hit $9 in early August and has not looked back. Infratil assets include a 66% stake in Wellington Airport, 51% of Manawa Energy, 40% in US renewable energy investment Longroad Energy, and 49.9% of Vodafone NZ.

‘‘Infratil’s been a main focus on the market as it continues to roar higher, it’s done extremely well over the past three days. Which is maybe a little bit surprising, but it is obviously viewed as a defensive [stock] and also got a green renewable energy tinge to it as well,’’ Williamson said.

Its shares got a boost after it announced on August 1 that Infratil said the value of its 40% stake in Longroad increased $969m in the three months to the end of June.

Infratil is one of the biggest stocks on the market with a market capitalisation of $6.8 billion, compared with top local stock Meridian Energy with a value of $12.9b.

Meridian was flat at $5, Mercury Energy fell 0.7% to $6.04, Contact Energy rose 0.8% to $8.09, and Manawa Energy was up 0.3% at $5.98.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 2.3% to $18.90.

‘‘Fisher & Paykel Healthcare is under a bit of pressure under the $19 mark at the moment,’’ Williamson said.

Last month Fisher & Paykel Healthcare said first-half profit could fall as much as 62% as demand from hospitals for its breathing aids slowed. It forecast net profit in the six months to September 30 could fall to $85m to $95m, down from $221.8m last year.

Auckland Airport was down 0.1% at $7.60, Spark was up 0.09% at $5.43, Ebos fell 0.1% to $39.10, and a2 Milk lost 0.3% to $6.35.

Retirement village stocks were quite mixed, with Ryman up 1.3% to $9, Oceania down 1% at 96c, and Summerset up 0.7% at $10.98.

Across the Tasman, Australia’s S&P/ASX200 Index was down a further 0.2% to 6837 in late afternoon trading, while stocks were mixed across Asia.

On energy markets Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 81 cents to US$94.93 per barrel in London. – With AP