KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket ended down 0.8 per cent today, giving up yesterday's gains as it followed the lead of Wall St and other markets.
The NZSX-50 Index closed down 29.4 points at 3651.09, having risen 19 points at the start of the week, on turnover valued at $110 million.
"We just took our lead from offshore markets, no particular company news," said First NZ Capital director Philip Hunter.
Top stock Telecom was unchanged at 397, having traded a 5c range during the session.
Fletcher Building fell 25c to 860, and Contact Energy was down a further 24c at 920, having lost 12c yesterday as excitement ebbed about BG's bid for Contact's parent Origin Energy.
Auckland International Airport was unchanged at 219, despite the prospect of the top-10 airport operator having to fill two top jobs at the same time.
AIA chief financial officer Robert Sinclair is quitting in August to emigrate to Britain, while chief executive Don Huse has already announced his departure by late October.
Among other blue chips, Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 3c to 266, F&P Healthcare was flat at 268, Infratil was up 3c at 228, Sky City was up 2c at 395, and Sky TV lost 8c to 456.
Fund manager and insurer Tower was down 3c at 220, having jumped 15c following 19.7 per cent shareholder Guinness Peat Group's bid for a further 15.3 per cent at 230 per share.
"I don't think the market's doubting the offer going through, it's probably more a function of people being only able to exit part of their holding, assuming that the offer goes ahead," Mr Hunter said.
First NZ Capital's valuation of Tower was $4 per share.
"It would be fair to say most broker valuations are well in excess of that offer price, which of course is well in excess of the price where it was trading," he said.
GPG was down 2c at 173.
Freight firm Mainfreight was down 7c to 698 despite the good price Toll received for its New Zealand rail and ferry operations as the Government renationalised the company. Freightways was up 14c to 340. Toll said it was on the hunt for another NZ acquisition.
Hallenstein Glasson fell 10c to 360, PGG Wrightson fell 3c to 200, The Warehouse lost 4c to 576, and Ebos was down 5c at 480.
NZ Oil and Gas fell 3c to 161, Vector was down 5c at 205, and TrustPower rose 3c to 790.
Port of Tauranga gained 5c to 660, Steel & Tube was up 3c at 313, and Skellerup gained a cent to 96.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.4 per cent at 5707, while Japan's Nikkei average was up 2 per cent.
Earlier in the US, shares swung lower after Microsoft pulled the plug on its Yahoo takeover bid and a fresh record high for oil prices hurt momentum on Wall Street after three positive weeks.
- NZPA
