NZ stocks: Rubicon rises as the rest retreat

The sharemarket closed down more than 1 per cent yesterday amid widespread weakness.

The NZSE-40 capital index fell 25.11 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 2065.61 .

But smaller stocks firmed a touch, and the NZSE-SCI capital index was up 7.72 points to 5171.55. Falls far outnumbered rises at 63 to 29.

America provided a negative tone first up, stocks there tumbling after new data reignited fears the US economic slowdown may be more widespread than expected.

Here, Grant Williamson of Hamilton, Hindin, Greene said the week's somewhat light market volumes continued. Turnover of 45.32 million shares was worth $98.93 million.

"We're overdue for some sort of direction in this market. Maybe one or two investors are just hopping out to sit on the sidelines until some firm trend is set," Mr Williamson said.

Telecom fell further, closing down 15c at $6.05. This week it canned the introduction of new mobile technology in Australia, and brokers have noted concern about a possible downwards re-rating in an international fund managers' benchmark index. Mr Williamson said nervousness ahead of its quarterly result next Friday might also be hurting the stock. Brokers expect another disappointing release, with fierce competition in the mobile sector from Vodafone.

Elsewhere, Air NZ A shares dropped 3c to $1.10 and the Bs, which foreigners can own, shed 5c to $1.55. The airline has come through a troubled week of increased competition in New Zealand from Qantas, but some brokers picked an easing in the Australian market after Qantas effectively announced a buy-out of cut-price airline Impulse.

Rubicon, led by chief executive Luke Moriarty, stood out, hitting new highs on good volume and closing up 3c at 55c. News broke this week of an American fund building a stake, and Mr Williamson said people could be buying in the expectation of an asset sale.

The Warehouse fell 7c to $5.65 after its third quarter sales report. The discount retailer said same-store sales excluding Australian units Clints and Solly's was 6.9 per cent ahead of the same quarter last year.

A same-store sales comparison for Clints and Solly's was not disclosed. The Warehouse last month warned problems facing its Australian operations would take around 15 per cent off profits for the year ended July 31.

Among the other main movers, Auckland Airport was down 4c to $3.40, BIL lost 2c to 58c, Carter Holt shed 2c to $1.82 and Contact Energy was down 3c at $2.95.

Fisher and Paykel dropped 15c to $8.75, Fletcher Building fell 3c to $2.27, Frucor was also down 3c at $2.23 and Telstra slipped 8c at $8.10.

- NZPA