MARKET CLOSE: Mainfreight shares rise in weak market

Thursday 26th May 2011

Market darling Mainfreight rose today after it reported a hike in full-year net profit before non-recurring expenses to a record $47.2 million from $38.3 million the year before.

Mainfreight shares closed up 18c at $9.44 and traded to a record $9.54 in a market that was weaker.

Mainfreight said the past year had been a "defining period" for the company, which was in a position to take advantage of the scale offered by its growing global presence.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 26.777 points, or 0.753 percent, at 3527.588 as profit-taking emerged in many leading stocks.

Profit-taking got the better of Telecom, which pulled back 5.5c to $2.43, after trading as high as $2.54 yesterday following Tuesday's announcement it had the major share of the Government's ultrafast broadband initiative.

Fletcher Building eased 12c to $8.81 and Contact Energy eased 4c to $5.94. SkyCity eased 5c to $3.67.

Auckland Airport eased 3c to $2.25 on a day it released operating statistics.

OceanaGold lifted 28c to $3.30 and NZ Refining rose 3c to $4.39 as the commodity price story continued to be a big theme in markets globally.

Smartpay eased a cent to 21c after reporting a turn around to a small annual profit.

Argosy Property eased a cent to 85c as independent directors wrote to unit holders favouring the company's plans to bring property management inhouse over a merger approach from DNZ Property.

Infratil eased a cent to $1.88 and NZX eased a cent to $2.44. Skellerup eased a cent to $1.27 and Ryman Healthcare eased 2c to $2.70.

Kathmandu eased 9c to $2.27, The Warehouse eased 2c to $3.63 and Pumpkin Patch eased 3c to $1.17.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.3 percent to end at 12,394.66, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 0.3 percent to 1320.47, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.6 percent to 2761.38.

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