NZ stocks: Negative US session depresses NZ shares

The New Zealand sharemarket lost some of yesterday's gloss after a negative session on Wall St overnight.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index closed down 0.31 per cent, or 6.66 points, at 2130.40, while the top-40 index lost 0.36 per cent to 2066.68.

Topping turnover totalling $57.67 million was Telecom's 3.90 million stocks worth $20.09 million.

Rob Gwyther of Macquarie Equities said offshore money continuing to leave and mixed results for companies reporting in the United States combined to depress on-market activity.

"Today's a soft day. It's a big nothing sort of day."

"In the last couple of weeks the New Zealand market went very soft after after being a great little performer," Mr Gwyther said.

"A lot of that's fund managers, who were overweight in this part of the world for defensive reasons for the last 12 months ... have just had a bigger growth bet and have shifted to higher growth markets in Asia."

"I don't think New Zealand's going to fall out of bed in this process but it is an overweightedness being reduced," he said.

"Where things get a bit oversold there's a bit of an uptake to pick them up.

Market leader Telecom was down 2c at 515 after a rise of more than 2 per cent yesterday.

Sky City rose a further 16c to 904 ahead of Thursday's probable interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank, echoing good support for the yield stocks.

Guinness Peat Group was unchanged at 155 after announcing today it had boosted its stake in Tower to 11.65 per cent from 9.9 per cent.

GPG, which is underwriting a four-for-three rights issue backed by institutional shareholders to raise $211 million, can not increase its stake in Tower beyond a maximum of 13.75 per cent.

Tower closed down 2c at 118.

On the down side, Auckland International Airport lost 1c to 585, Fletcher Building shed 2c to 371, Tranz Rail was down 1c at 96, Westpac lost 10c to 1715, The Warehouse lost 7c to 477, Restaurant Brands was down 3c at 125, and Fletcher Forests shed 1c to 112.

Carter Holt Harvey lost 1c to 162 after its announcement today it would plough A$21 million ($24.03 million) into making its South Australian particleboard operations the largest of its kind in the country.

Carter Holt said its Pinepanels' Mt Gambier particleboard operation would be upgraded during the next 12 months.

Urbus, which yesterday listed at 95c, was down 2c at 90.

On the flip side, Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 11c to 1276, while Healthcare gained 2c to 1135. Baycorp Advantage was up 1c at 160, Hellaby Holdings rose 2c to 148, Sky TV gained 3c to 452, Hallenstein Glasson was up 3c at 290, and Vending Technologies was up 10c at 115.

There were 60 falls and 30 rises on the 139 stocks traded.

On Wall St, US stocks sagged sharply on Monday with technology stocks bearing the brunt of the selling.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended with a drop of 91.46 points, or 1 per cent, at 9096.69; the broader S&P 500 fell 14.52 points, or 1.46 per cent, to 978.80; and the technology-dominated Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 27.02 points, or 1.58 per cent, to 1681.48.

- NZPA