Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

NZ sharemarket ends the week flat

Updated at 9:32 am on 15 April 2012

The benchmark NZX 50 index ended the short post-Easter week flat, closing on Friday at 3487 points.

Fletcher Building again rose, and ended the day up 5 cents at $6.20, Freightway rose 1 cent to $3.94, and Mainfreight also lifted 1 cent to $9.48

Telecom helped rein in the index gains by falling 2 cents to $2.49, its former operations now trading as Chorus fell 1 cent to $3.43, and Contact Energy was down 5 cents at $4.78. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 1 cent to $2.16, and SkyCity Entertainment slipped 2 cents to $3.85.

The New Zealand dollar has eased from its earlier high, after offshore data showed China's economy grew at its weakest pace in three years, in the first quarter.

It hit a high of 83.12 US cents in anticipation of the data, but immediately fell and ended the local business day at 82.98 US cents.

Rankin Treasury director Derek Rankin says the kiwi's climb was always likely to be short lived.

At the close of the business week the New Zealand dollar was also buying 79.83 Australian cents, 52.02 pence, 67.20 yen and 0.6295 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 73.85 points.

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