Shares flat as smelter deal emerges

Shares flat as smelter deal emerges
Dan Brunskill
New Zealand's headline share index was flat today with news of an extension of operations at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter having little impact on the already elevated share prices of Meridian Energy and Contact Energy.     The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 4.4 points, or 0.03 percent, to 13,115.87. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 21 fell and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $138.2 million.Mining multinational Rio Tinto said today it had struck a deal with Meridian to keep the Southland aluminium smelter in business for a...