KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket closed down for the seventh consecutive session as pessimism about the economy depressed sentiment.
The NZSX-50 index closed down 4.33 points at 3547.01, its lowest level in six weeks.
No 3 stock Fletcher Building continued to head south after its profit warning last week. It lost
8c to 760, and traded down at 750, its lowest level since February 2006.
Air NZ today also issued a warning. The 80 per cent government owned airline said it expected its full year earnings to be at least 25 per cent below last year's level due to higher fuel costs.
The airline said it now expected earnings before tax and unusuals for the 2008 year to be below $200m against last month's $200-220m forecast and compared with 2007 earnings of $268 million. Its shares fell as low as 109 and ended 3c down on 111 - a third of their level of just under a year ago.
But it wasn't all bad news.
Bathroom fittings manufacturer Methven jumped 14 per cent, or 21c to 171, after announcing annual net profit up 27.7 per cent to $9.8m.
The company said the result was achieved on the back of strong growth in Australian shower and tapware sales, combined with seven months' contribution from recently acquired British-based Deva.
Sanford held steady on 438 after the fishing company reported its March half year net profit more than tripled to $35.3 million thanks to a $26.2m one-off profit from the sale of assets.
The company said it was in good shape due to strong demand despite a soaring fuel bill and battling a strong currency.
Hallenstein Glasson jumped 23c to to 333 on slim volume. Brokers said the retailer had been oversold.
Contact Energy ended down 1c on 910 following a late dip. Its 51 per cent owner Origin Energy was put into a trading halt ahead of this week's expected takeover announcement from Britain's BG Group.
Brokers expressed surprise trading in the New Zealand company, which BG has indicated it doesn't want, wasn't halted for more than a few minutes.
Market leader Telecom ended up 4c to 393.
Sky City, which announced some key top executive appointments, fell 4c to 441.
Auckland Airport fell 3c to 217 on dull airport movement figures while Infratil, which owns two thirds of Wellington Airport, fell 5c to 219, possibly for the same reason.
Some of the dual listed Australian stocks had a rough day. Westpac lost 55c to 2700, AMP 11c to 899, and Lion Nathan 24c to 1075. Brokers said some of the falls were currency related.
Among the smaller stocks, Oceana Gold rose 10c to 180 and Pine Guinness Corp rose 10c to 350.
Tower shares ended square on 219 after Guinness Peat Group said it was highly confident its partial offer for Tower would be successful, and the offer would not be extended beyond the current closing date of June 19.
GPG, which is already a 19.7 per cent shareholder in Tower, announced its $67.5m offer at $2.30 a share for 15.3 per cent of Tower in early May.
NZ Farming Systems Uruguay lost 1c to 195 after announcing yesterday it had increased its farmland in Uruguay, and confirmed its annual forecast.
- NZPA
