NZ market weakened but still resilient

The New Zealand sharemarket weakened today but brokers said it was a resilient performance after sharp falls by global stocks.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 14.503 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 3071.582 after initially falling around 1.8 per cent. Turnover was worth $108.76 million, of which just over $60m was in top stocks Fletcher Building and Telecom.

There were 14 rises and 72 falls among the 110 stocks traded.

James Lee, head of institutional equities at First NZ Capital, said companies were being caned for disappointing investors during the reporting season but they are also being rewarded for good news.

NZ Refining fell 40c to 650 today after reporting an interim profit and suspending the dividend. Mr Lee said the company talked about lower margins and pressure on cashflow.

"Yesterday a very minor miss from Freightways saw the stock fall 10 per cent. James Hardie in Australia was up 22 per cent today on their result," he said.

Freightways was unchanged at 310 today.

Fisher and Paykel Appliances fell 1c to 79 after announcing yesterday chief executive John Bongard will leave at the end of the year for health reasons.

"The stock is just really down today on the market," Mr Lee said.

"It is a tough environment for them and they have been pretty careful about what they have said," he said.

Telecom fell 3c to 269 ahead of its result on Friday. SkyCity fell 2c to 330 ahead of its result tomorrow morning.

Port of Tauranga fell 10c to 655. Mainfreight fell 9c to 490 and Contact fell 1c to 628.

Tower fell 1c to 181 and Auckland Airport fell 1c to 170. Lion Nathan fell 10c to 1450.

Steel and Tube fell 4c to 315. NZX fell 8c to 775. SkyTV fell 7c to 459 and Cavalier fell 5c to 240. Michael Hill fell 1c to 67.

Leading the gainers, Fletcher Building rose 16c to 780.

GPG rose 1c to 81, TrustPower rose 9c to 765 and Ryman rose 2c to 187. Hallenstein Glassons rose 3c to 292. Sanford rose 4c to 519 and The Warehouse rose 1c to 406.

In the US on Monday, stocks suffered their worst loss in seven weeks on the weak data from Japan and a disappointing outlook from retailer Lowe's Cos.

Japan's gross domestic product showed its economy pulled out of recession in the second quarter, but at a slower pace than expected.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 2 per cent to end at 9135.34, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 2.4 per cent to 979.73, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 2.8 per cent to 1930.84.

- NZPA