KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket recovered from early losses today, but still closed down 0.3 per cent as blue chips remained negative.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index, which yesterday had a healthy 0.9 per cent gain on heavy turnover, was down 9.3 points at 3583.
The index hit a session low of
3573.
A short week, with Anzac Day holiday on Friday, and the start of the school holidays meant volume was light at $69.6 million.
Nigel Scott of ABN Amro Craigs said the market was consolidating, after stocks which made some reasonable gains at the start of the month had run out of steam.
"We are seeing a recovery in some stocks which really did get sold through different reasons," Mr Scott said.
While investor confidence was improving, the market remained mixed, he said.
Top stock Telecom closed up a cent at 379, above the day's low of 368.
Contact Energy, which recently replaced Fletcher Building as second-ranked stock by market capitalisation, fell 18c, or nearly 2 per cent, to 902. However, it started the month below 800.
Fletcher Building was up 9c at 850, Fisher & Paykel Appliances fell a cent to 255, F&P Healthcare lost 4c to 271, Auckland Airport was down 2c at 217, and Sky City lost 5c to 379.
Rounding out the top-10, Infratil rose 2c to 227, Sky TV was down a cent at 470, and Kiwi Income Property Trust was up 2c at 128.
NZ Farming Systems Uruguay was up a cent at 140 after upgrading its annual profit forecast on the rising price of milk, while parent PGG Wrightson was flat at 205.
Rakon fell 6c to 213, Pumpkin Patch lost 5c to 177, Hallenstein Glasson fell 8c to 361, Freightways shed 14c to 336, and Port of Tauranga lost 5c to 625.
Mainfreight was up 7c at 667, Sanford rose 10c to 420, NZX was up 6c at 822, and Ebos rose 8c to 479.
Continuing this month's recovery, Vector was up 5c at 210 as it reportedly considered bids for its Wellington network.
Energy explorer NZ Oil and Gas was up 3c at a record high 156, while its offshoot Pike River Coal was also at a record high, up 3c at 132.
The Warehouse was down 10c at 595 ahead of a return to court for suitors Woolworths Ltd and Foodstuffs, appealing a Commerce Commission decision denying the acquisition of the discount retailer.
Dual-listed stocks were mixed, with ANZ down 7c at 2493 ahead of its interim result tomorrow, Westpac up 25c at 2825, AMP down 5c at 955, and Lion Nathan down 20c at 1039.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.7 per cent at 5563, and Japan's Nikkei share average was down 1.2 per cent.
Earlier on Wall Street, weak quarterly results from Bank of America Corp rekindled concerns about the toll the credit crisis has taken on banks and overshadowed rising energy shares as oil closed at a record high.
- NZPA
