NZ stocks: Leading shares lead market down

The New Zealand sharemarket slipped today, following on from yesterday's 1.2 per cent decline.

On a day in which a survey showed a rise in consumer confidence brokers said investor confidence was lacking.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 22.203 points, or 0.804 per cent, at 2739.806. Yesterday it fell 32.9 points.

Turnover was worth $74.7m and $21m of that was in Telecom shares. There were 25 rises and 48 falls among the 106 stocks traded.

The leaders were among the losers today. Fletcher Building fell 6c to 635, having yesterday fallen 21c. Telecom fell 4c to 258 but Contact Energy rose 2c to 578.

PGG Wrightson shares fell 8c to 112, after the company revised down its earnings forecast because of the global recession.

The company said it now expected net operating earnings of between $30 million and $32m for the year to June 30, down from previous guidance of $36m to $42m.

"The profit downgrade highlighted the difficult trading conditions in the rural scene at the moment," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene. "There is also a focus on the company's debt issues again," he said.

The New Zealand market lagged other markets today but it did not decline as much as other markets yesterday, he said.

Guinness Peat Group fell 3c to 66. It was announced today that director Tony Gibbs sold 4 million shares at 68.

Restaurant Brands rose 1c to 102, after announcing it is to sell some of its Pizza Hut stores to owner-operators, under a new arrangement with Yum! Restaurants International.

Pike River Coal rose 2c to 112, NZOG rose 4c to 157, Michael Hill rose 2c to 68 and Kiwi Income Property Trust rose 2c to 91.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 3c to 287.

Tower eased 3c to 169, TrustPower eased 4c to 761 and Cavalier eased 2c to 186. Ebos eased 3c to 507. Freightways eased 6c to 284, Mainfreight eased 6c to 429, Tourism Holdings eased 1c to 45 and The Warehouse eased 5c to 365.

SkyCity eased 8c to 262 and SkyTV eased 4c to 426.

The S&P 500 rose on Tuesday as investors hunted for bargains a day after a steep sell-off, but another delay for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner kept the Dow in the red.

Investors were cautious a day ahead of the Federal Reserve's assessment of economic conditions.

"The market's really trying to stabilise after a pretty sharp decline yesterday," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist of RDM Financial in Westport, Connecticut.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 16.10 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 8322.91. But the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.06 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 895.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.27 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 1764.92.

- NZPA